The Legend of Zelda: Winds of Change
by DigiTails
Summary: After a fierce and devastating battle, Link has found himself transported to a different and novel land due to Zelda's efforts to save him. There are many challenges he must overcome before he can return home. Sequel to Lei's Crystal. IMPLIED: Link & Zeld
1. Breeze

Hey, welcome to my second Zelda Fanfic, Winds of Change. This is a direct sequel to my last one. If you haven't read that one already, go do that. It's fairly long, but you'll be lost in the plot otherwise. If you have already read Lei's Crystal, please continue.

The speaking is fairly similar to how it was in the last one. Except, there's more then one language used frequently. So one of the languages is going to be blocked off «like so» while the other is completely normal. Just to try and spare you some confusion, because I don't want to always specify the language, and then it would just get complicated. Oh, and this one is _not_ going to be in chapter subdivides like the last one. Lei's Crystal had like over 40 chapters in the end on the site, but it was only 21. That's a little daunting.

So, without further ado. Because that cliffhanger in the last one was _painful_. Enjoy.

* * *

He was floating in a sea of white. His back was soaked with salt water while his front felt as though it were being burned. He tried to open his eyes, but found himself too weary to do so. A memory floated through his mind. He remembered the form of a beautiful woman being surrounded by a white light.

"_Zelda! Don't!"_

He wondered who Zelda was and why he had shouted for her to stop whatever it was that she was doing. He remembered a lot of pain in the memory. Then he remembered that a man of tremendous evil had stabbed him in the chest. His lungs had been pierced; he was drowning in his own blood when Zelda, whoever she was, had done that. He thought that maybe she was going to try and save him, and that she would have died if she did so. He wondered why he had thought that and couldn't come up with a reason.

He heard voices. He recognized one. It was the goddess Faeore's.

"_I understand how your weapon works, Lei, but Hyrule will need Link in his time."_

"_I am the goddess of time, Faeore, but I cannot control its ebb and flow. Link will need to return himself to his own time. I cannot do that."_

"_And what about Zelda?"_

"_Nayru, your Bearer will be perfectly unharmed. She was not meant to use my crystal, but she did so in a rash decision to save the Hero of Time. As Lei's Crystal has no evil force attached to it, she was not sacrificed. However, since she cannot control time like Link can, she inadvertently transported them to a different time."_

"_But can they be returned, sister?"_

"_Oh yes. There is a great evil in the Hyrule they are in now. To go back, that evil must be destroyed. Then they will be able to find my crystal and Link will be able to transport them back."_

"_Right. That evil has your crystal, right?"_

"_Correct, Din. It is a source of great power for that evil. They feed off of it. Link will not be able to get it back peacefully."_

The white faded from his mind. The voices continued conversing, but he could no longer understand what they were saying.

"MAN OVERBOARD!"

He felt something grab his waist. He felt his body be dragged through water and then hauled out.

He smelled salt. He heard the sound of seagulls crying in the sky. Perhaps he was at the ocean of Greater Termina or in the Great Bay. He was hauled upwards for a long period of time before he hit a wooden deck. Perhaps a fishing ship. The voice had been male, so it couldn't have been the Pirates in the Great Bay. He thought it was either the fisher in the Great Bay or one of the fishermen in Greater Termina. Though, even so, he didn't understand why the speaker's words hadn't made sense to him.

He opened his eyes slowly and saw a huge man standing over him, blocking the sunlight. He had a discolored nose, dark eyes, and wore a red bandana.

He groaned and stood up, shaking the green tunic that garbed him. He felt his back and felt his shield and his sheath. There was no weapon inside it, however. He sighed.

"Linkuu, I was worried that you had drowned. How are you doing?" Another person said. His time the speaker was a woman. He turned and looked at her. She had pale blonde hair and dark skin. He figured she had spent long hours in the sun. She had two scimitars around her waist, held in place by a large red sash. She wore purple and blue clothing. Her speech, too, did not make sense.

He shook his head, trying to show that he couldn't understand a word that she said.

«Link!» A voice called out that he recognized. He looked and saw a blue fairy fly in front of his face. «You're alive. Thank goodness. I thought you were going to die! Hey. Are you alright?»

«Navi.» He replied vocally. His voice was hoarse, but he didn't care.

«Hey, you talk now. That's good. Listen, where do you think we are?»

He shook his head again and shrugged his shoulders. Link looked around the boat he was on and jumped back. It was enormous. He had never seen a boat so large in his life. Link looked around, on all sides, the horizon was water meeting with sky. There was no land in sight, not even small islands. It was only at one point that he saw a pinprick of a tower at the edge of the horizon. He looked around in shock.

The woman spoke again. "Linkuu, what's wrong? You act like you've never seen the ocean before." She paused and examined him. "What happened with your outfit? And where's your boat?" Link stared at her, trying to understand what she was saying. He couldn't make sense of her words. "Why don't you respond, Linkuu?"

He shook his head again. Then Link looked at Navi curiously.

«I'm sorry, Link. I don't understand her either.» He sighed.

The woman stared at him for a while longer. Then she turned to the men that surrounded them. "Continue to Windfall Island. Maybe someone there could find out what's wrong with Linkuu."

"Yes, ma'am." They replied in unison. Link shook his head again. Their words made no sense to him. The men saluted to her and ran off. Link walked to the side of the boat and leaned on the railing. He looked at the sea. He wondered where he was now.

* * *

Her body was alive with pain. She was suffering, and she felt as though her body had become alight with black flames. Although she was gently bobbing with the ebb and flow of a body of water, she could hear nothing around her. But light burned through her closed eyelids, almost as though she were in a vast white space. Through her mind a line came to her. She remembered the body of a strong man convulsing as blood fell from the corners of his mouth.

"_No. I will not allow you to die, Link."_

She wondered who this Link was and why she hadn't wanted him to die or why he was going to die for that matter. She remembered a lot of sorrow in the memory. Then she remembered that a sinister man that had tormented her was the cause of what had happened to her. He had run Link, whoever he was, through with a nefarious blade and he was dying as blood spilt from his body. She thought of an object that could save Link if she used it, but it would have cost her life. She wondered why she had wanted to save this Link so badly, and couldn't come up with a reason.

She heard voices. They were four female voices.

"_Can he even get it back from that evil, Lei? That's the question."_

"_Well, Nayru, I expect that you would know such things."_

"_I am the goddess of wisdom, Lei. I cannot predict the future. That is your task."_

"_Very well. There is no concern over that. Link will triumph over his darkness."_

"_And the darkness of the others that have been summoned?"_

"_Naturally, Faeore. Why would you even ask that? Isn't he your hero?"_

"_Of course. But the hero is always chosen by me."_

"_He certainly has the strength to."_

"_You would be able to measure that, wouldn't you, Din?"_

"_Of course I would."_

"_But let us not forget about the Princess of Destiny. Even with his strength, Link will require her aide."_

"_What do you mean by that Lei?"_

"_Exactly how I said that."_

"_But are you going to allow her to live? After all, only the hero is supposed to use our weapons. Only they can wield it correctly."_

"_Of course. She's your chosen Bearer. I would not allow her to die. Besides, did you not hear me before, Nayru? She's been transported through time just like Link. She's very much alive. I wonder if you've been listening to me at all."_

Reality came to her. The four continued to speak, but she was unable to understand what they said.

"Hm? Shipwreck survivor?"

She heard the sound of splashing, as though someone were trudging through waist deep water. Someone picked her up in their arms and carried her; she felt her body slowly rise above the water.

There was the sound of someone moving along sand. She had seen and heard sand once, at the Great Bay shore when she had been brought there. But the sound was easily recognized. Perhaps she was back in the Great Bay shore. There were many inhabitants in Termina, maybe one of them had seen her out in the water and had brought her back. She wondered why she would be in the Great Bay, however, and was unable to comprehend why that would be. And what was less understandable to her was the fact that although the voice had been male, she had not understood a single word that had been said.

There was the sound of a door being kicked open and she felt herself be placed on a soft bedspread a few steps later. She heard the person that had picked her up walk around what she presumed to be the bed, and felt as though she were being examined. She opened her eyes and looked at the person.

He had soft blonde hair and dark eyes. He wore a green tunic and lime green clothes underneath. She stared openly at him, wondering why he looked so familiar to her.

"I guess that you're up. Why do you look like King Daphnes got to you again, Tetra?"

She shook her head, she didn't understand a word he had just said.

"Tetra? You alright? And what happened to your pirate ship and your crew? Please don't tell me that you're in trouble again."

She sighed and spoke, «I am afraid that I do not understand you, but even so, you have my thanks for helping me.» Her voice was collected and strong. The young man seemed to be taken aback by her speech.

«Oh, I didn't know that you could speak ancient now, Tetra.» He replied, now speaking in a language that she understood. «Since when could you do that?»

«My name is not Tetra. It never has been. I am Princess Zelda. Who might you be?»

«I'm Linkuu. Come on, you don't remember me? Tetra's your pirate disguise, remember? You've only looked like Princess Zelda once in your life, when we were children.»

Zelda calmly got up from the bed and stood, facing Linkuu. «I do have a disguise, that is true. But the name of that guise is not Tetra. It is Sheik. And I have always looked like Princess Zelda, I was born to be the ruler of Hyrule.»

He frowned and examined her. «Now that I think about it, you do look a little different then you did then. But then that was seven years ago.» He smiled at her, «But you're sure you're not Tetra?»

«Yes.» She said firmly. «I can show you the only form that I can change into, if would help to disillusion you, Linkuu.»

Zelda stepped back and raised her arms, as though to guard her body. She charged magical energy around them. She raised one above her head while lowering the other and twirling around. Shoots of the energy around her arm surrounded her body and her form changed. Her skin became darker, her eyes the color of blood. Her dress changed into a skintight body suit of a navy blue color. Muscles developed in an instant and her torso was covered in a baggy, sleeveless, white shirt. There were torn bandages around her hands. Attached to her back, under the white shirt, was a small lute. A white scarf that wound around the top of her head shaded her lower face.

She looked at him with a fierce gaze of a warrior. He seemed to freeze as he looked at her in awe.

«Wow. Tetra can't do anything like that. I guess you're not her.»

She gave him a brief glance of irritation and repeated the process to change her form in the first place. Her eyes returned to blue, her skin became pale once more. The navy blue bodysuit became a green dress of heavy silk. The white shirt returned to a light armor over her shoulders. Silken green gloves that went up to her armpits replaced the bandages over her hands.

«Of course. That is what I have been trying to tell you this entire time. So where am I?»

«My house. It's on a small island on the Great Sea.»

«The Great Sea?»

«Yeah. It's what the goddesses created when they buried the Golden Lands underwater to destroy a great evil. A fishless ocean. I think you were born to rule a drier Hyrule.»

«Yes. I was. How did you figure that out?»

«It's pretty obvious. You don't understand my modern speech. You only speak, and understand, ancient Hylian. You say you're Princess Zelda, and you're speaking the truth 'cause I can see that in your eyes, but the Zelda I know goes by the name Tetra and the only thing she's the ruler of is a bunch of pirates.»

«That's right. You did refer to this as ancient before. I was so flabbergasted by the idea that you were insisting that I was this Tetra, that I did not realize it.»

«And that's another thing. You're speech is way too formal to be Tetra. She speaks so freely and with such an accent, sometimes it's hard to understand her. Even when the disguise she was given was taken away, she always acted so freely.»

«That is very observant.»

He chuckled. «To be the Hero of Winds, I've gotta be observant, Miss Zelda. Else I'd be sleeping with the fishes right now, many times over.» He walked over to the door and opened it. He looked back at her. «Come on, I'm gonna take you to Windfall Island. It's a little way from here, but I'm supposed to meet Tetra there. She's a lot smarter then I am, so maybe she can figure out what's going on.»

Zelda followed Linkuu and walked down the shore with him. He showed her to a red boat that looked like it had a dragon's head. It looked so real; Zelda thought for a moment that it was capable of speech. The sail was tied down so it wouldn't go anywhere. There was a rope connecting it to a pole buried into the sand. Linkuu helped her onto the boat. She sat down on a compartment box at the back of the boat. He stepped in and grabbed a hold of the sail. He untied it and the sail became full with wind.

He handled the mast easily and rotated it around to get the most of the wind. The boat moved along the water, and the head turned to face the direction he wanted to lead it in. The wind was strong and they traveled quickly. However, it was over three hours that they passed a large tower that Zelda had seen, towering in the distance, even when they had first left the island she had been found on. While they were passing it, Zelda tried to look at the top of the tower, but even arched back as much as she safely could, the clouds still covered the peak.

«Yeah. That's the Tower of the Gods, all right. It's tall, isn't it?» He called back to her. She nodded and gazed at it in awe.

It was nearing nightfall before he told her that they were even nearing their destination. She waited patiently and sat, occasionally shifting positions to remove the aching pain from her legs. The moon was fully raised above the horizon when they reached the island. He steered the boat to the docks of the island, tied down the sail, and jumped off. He tied the boat to the docks to make sure it didn't drift off and held out a hand to help Zelda off the boat. She rose and unsteadily walked to the front of the boat. She took his hand and he deftly pulled her up onto the docks.

He waved her forwards and led her through some dirt paths. Eventually, he brought her to a stone building. It had a wooden door. He opened it and let her walk in. She waited for him to enter, as he closed the door behind himself, and walked to a woman standing behind a counter.

She looked up at him and then over at Zelda.

"Can I help you, Linkuu?" She asked in the modern version of Hylian.

"Yeah. I know you don't normally do this, but could you give her a room to stay the night? I'll just sleep on the bench outside, like normal. But I'd like her to have somewhere else to stay. Please?"

"Fine. My guest room upstairs isn't being used at the moment. It'll be a hundred rupees."

He shrugged and handed over an orange rupee. Zelda stared at the amount and then followed him as he led her upstairs. He brought her to a room and opened the door for her. She walked in and looked around, it was a bedroom.

«Don't worry. I'm sleeping outside, but I thought you could use a room. You look like you've been through something trying recently. You could use the rest, especially after sailing all day. Don't worry about me though, okay? I'm used to it.» He spoke too fast in ancient for her to say no to him. She nodded.

«Linkuu, do you think it would be at all possible for you to teach me the language that everyone else speaks.»

«I dunno. Can you learn a new language?»

«I know the languages of the Zora, Goron, Gerudo, and Hylians. Or what you call ancient. I wish to be able to communicate with others on my own and be able to understand what they are saying to me.»

«Sure, thing.» He replied. His expression showed that the number of languages that she knew impressed him. «I'll start you off tomorrow morning though, before Tetra arrives. It's late.» He yawned widely and waved to her. «G'night. See you tomorrow. Rest well. Oh, lock the door. The drunks aren't the most trustworthy of people.» With that he walked out of the room.

Zelda walked over to the door and locked it as he had told her to do. She then sat down on the simply made bed and looked around. She wished for a nightgown to wear to bed, instead of her dress. She walked over to a nearby window and looked up at the star filled sky.

Linkuu looked a lot like Link, now that she remembered the Hero of Time. He had said he was the Hero of Winds. He had mentioned it in the middle of a stream and hadn't seemed to make a show of his title, so it had almost passed by unnoticed. But he was so different from Link at the same time. He spoke, a lot. During their passage over the sea, he had told her many delightful tales of people over the Great Sea and what it was like now. His stories had focused around the island he had grown up on, Outset, its rituals, his grandmother and sister, Tetra, and her pirate crew. He had proven to be very entertaining. And yet, she didn't think of him as strong or brave as Link.

She laughed lightly to herself. Linkuu was perhaps a reincarnation of Link, born to save Hyrule like the original hero himself. But they weren't the same, and it wasn't fair of her to compare the two men. As she gazed out at the sea, sorrow weighed down on her mind. She wondered if Link was out there, or if he was alive at all.

Zelda turned away from the window and closed it. She then removed her heavy dress, armor, jewelry, gloves, shoes, and surcoat. She draped them over the back of a chair in the room and stood in the middle of the room wearing a lightweight slip. She went to the bed and slipped under the covers. She was asleep in an instant.

* * *

This won't be updated until I finish typing up another story. Not updating. there can be a month's difference between it being fully updated on the site and finished typed. Like Lei's Crystal. Anywho. Enjoy yourself. Leave me with any questions, comments, concerns, or advice over this change in events over the next several months. I swear I'll enjoy it.


	2. Zephyr

Hey, guys. I'm back. Which means you'll be getting weekly updates on this until it's over. I hope. Don't hold me to it. But check it out every Friday, regardless.

* * *

Zelda awoke the next morning. She got out of the bed and found a small looking glass perched on a miniature vanity in the room. The princess looked at her reflection and tried to smooth down her golden hair. She then went over to the chair where she had placed her dress and jewelry and replaced all of the removed items. She was just placing the circlet onto her head when there was a knock on the door. Zelda went over to it, unlocked the door, and stared at Linkuu's face. He beamed up at her.

«Hello. Good Morning, Princess Zelda. Did you sleep well?»

She nodded her head. «Quite well, thank you.»

«That's good. So, do you want something to eat? You look like you're starving to death!»

It was at that moment that Zelda realized how hungry she actually was. She sighed and guessed that it was because she had not had a bite to eat since Umbra had captured her, however long ago that had been. «Yes, I am hungry. I would not mind having something to eat.»

«Cool. What do you like?»

«I would probably eat almost anything that you put in front of me. Don't worry about my being picky.»

«Alright. Come on down then. There's this new food cart that sells some delicious stuff! I'm sure you'll like it well enough.»

«Very well then.» Zelda agreed and then followed Linkuu out of the building. They were standing in a large plaza, akin to the town square of Hyrule castle town. It was a bright day and there were only a few clouds scattered in a crystal blue sky. Her breath caught in her chest, she had never seen such a wonderfully blue sky in her entire life. She looked around, everyone in the plaza was smiling and children ran around merrily. A few of the people looked at her in curiosity, her clothes seemed to be a lot older then those of the townspeople.

She then followed Linkuu as he led her out of the plaza. They came to a small stand with some potted flowers on either side. The pathway was wide, but it gave way to a cliff that dropped to the ocean. There was a cheery looking man behind the stand. It had vats that were steaming.

"Linkuu, what would you like today?"

"Two hot dogs please."

The man nodded and opened up one of the steaming vats. "Anything on 'em?"

Linkuu looked over to Zelda and seemed to bite his lip. "Eh, everything good on both."

The man laughed heartily and then picked up some rolls of bread that had been split in half. He put a thick roll of meat into the split in of both rolls, holding both of the rolls in between the fingers of one hand. He closed the vat, which he had pulled the meat out of, with the other hand and then ladled some green, white and red substances on the top of the rolls of meat. He wrapped them with a thin parchment and held them out to Linkuu.

"Fifteen rupees." He said.

Linkuu fished out a yellow and a blue rupee to hand over to the man. He then took the two items of food. He tilted his head and walked along the path carrying the food. Zelda followed him to a small outlook of the ocean. There was a large boulder with an inscription on it. Linkuu sat with his back against the stone and motioned for Zelda to sit down next to him.

Zelda sat down next to him and took one of the rolls that he handed her. She stared at it for a moment and then carefully bit off the end. Her mouth exploded in a clash of flavors. She quickly swallowed what she had bitten off and looked at everything that had been ladled on the meat.

Linkuu laughed, «That's a hot dog. It's some ground meat that's been cooked into that roll form put into a bun. On top is some onions, spicy relish which are like cucumbers chopped up and put into a container of vinegar, and then a sort of red sauce made from tomatoes.»

«I see. That is definitely a different combination of flavors,» Zelda replied before taking another bite. Now that she was no longer taken aback by the mixture of flavors she found the combination rather tasteful.

«So, Linkuu, you said that you were the Hero of Winds. I remember that you said yesterday that the people of your home island of Outset honored the ancient hero by having their boys dress up in his green clothes when they were the same age as he was in the legends. However, I do not recall your mentioning of why you have that title, or what the legends really entailed.»

He laughed as he finished his meal. «Well, that's a pretty long story. But I could be quick about it, if you'd like.» Zelda nodded at him and he looked up at the sky. «A really long time ago there was this kingdom with a hidden golden power. This land was peaceful, it had forests and mountains. Most of all, it was prosperous. There was a great evil that appeared and came after the golden power. He took it and darkness spread over the land. Then a boy came dressed in the green of the fields and sealed the evil away with the blade of evil's bane, thus bringing light back to the land. The boy was given the title of

the Hero of Time, as he had traveled through time to save this land, and his actions became legend. However, he left the lands and generations later the great evil broke through the seal. The people prayed for the hero's return, but he did not come. So they prayed to the gods and left their futures in the hands of fate. The outcome of that land was uncertain, as nobody knew what had become of it.»

«The Hero of Time?» Zelda gasped. «You mean, your people, they, they honored the Hero of Time?»

«Yeah. They dressed all the boys in green, in the hopes that we could find courage like his, find powerful swords, and slay evil. It really just became a sort of costume thing after a while. When it was my tenth birthday, I didn't even want to wear that outfit.»

«But why? You still wear it.» She pointed to the green that he wore.

«Well, yeah. That day after I put it on, my sister was stolen away by a giant bird that listened to the great evil, Ganon. So then I went to rescue her with Tetra. One thing led to another, and I wound up having to destroy Ganon, 'cause it just so happened to turn out that I am apparently the Great Hero himself returned, and the Great Sea is here because the goddesses flooded the Golden Lands with water to destroy the evil one. At that point, I didn't care too much about what I was wearing. Besides, it's comfortable.» He laughed as he leaned back on his arm. «You seem surprised that the Great Hero I was telling you was legendary was the Hero of Time. Didn't you know that?»

«What? No. I didn't know that your legendary hero was the Hero of Time.»

«Funny. 'Cause I kinda figured you're from one of those generations after Ganon was sealed and the Hero left and peace was in the lands. And I just figured that the Hero of Time was legendary at that point.»

Zelda's face became scarlet in anger. She quickly quelled her temper.

«Is there something wrong? Was it something I said?»

«No. I cannot expect you to know, but the time I am from is when Ganon first appeared.» Linkuu's eyes widened in surprise.

«Woah. No way. That means that you…that you…»

«Yes. I do know the Hero of Time. I have known him since I was a child.»

He smiled. «Cool. I guess I must kinda disappoint you then. 'Cause since you know him personally, I know I probably don't amount to much compared to him.»

«That's right. You are very different then the Hero I know. But then, that should be expected. From the time he was an infant, his life has been in chaos. He has gone through many ordeals, and that was even before Ganon appeared. From what you have told me, your life was peaceful, and you knew few hardships.»

«Yeah. I guess so. Could you tell me about him? What is he like?»

«Well,» Zelda began with a lingering smile on her face, «He's very serious. I hardly believe that I have seen him smile once, I was taken aback when he actually showed that he could laugh.»

«Isn't that a little harsh?»

«Not really. You see, I had believed for the longest time that he was so serious on account of the fact that he was mute. I did not think that he had the ability to laugh. He was also courageous. Even though he had been thrown from a child's body to that of a man's in what was to him a mere minute, he still pressed onwards. The lands he had been thrown into suddenly had been warped by Ganondorf's mad desire for power. All that had been holy became demonic. Through all that, I guided him as Shiek. I saw the determination in his eyes every time we met. I saw that anytime that I was mentioned, he became tense. It had been my request of him to unseal the path to the golden power so that he could gain the Master Sword, but he was too young and he was thrown to seven years in the future, when Ganondorf had taken over. I had requested that he prevent Ganondorf from gaining the golden power, unfortunately, when Link was frozen in time, Ganondorf got exactly what he desired. It was at that point that Link vanquished Ganondorf and sealed him away, perhaps to save me, to do as I requested, or to save Hyrule as it were.»

«Or maybe all three.»

«Yes. I believe that was what it was. But afterwards, I had to send him back through time so that what damage my childish folly had caused could be undone. He left a little afterwards, he only stayed a few months at my request, but that could only keep him for so long. Years later I met him again in a strange land, that was when I heard him laugh, but it still seemed as though he were mute. Then he was kind and full of vigor. He was silent and serious still, but I saw how much he had helped the people in that land too.»

«Cool. So what happened then?»

«A man named Amageten captured me to force me to revive Ganon. I had no intention of doing so, but his servant, a man named Umbra,» Zelda shivered at the mere mention of his name. The word tasted foul in her mouth. She took a breath and continued, «Umbra was a dark being summoned by fell arts. I believe he could convince nearly anyone that the sky was green if it would suit his purpose. He toyed with me while I was in Amageten's hold, convinced me of the opposite of everything I believed in. But then he showed up again. He broke Umbra's dark spell. I was then told of how much suffering he had gone through merely to save me from Amageten. Umbra had tried to kill him over a dozen times, each time getting closer to his goal. When he came to fight Umbra…» Zelda trailed off.

«What happened? He won, right?»

«He vanquished Umbra, that much is true. But I think at the cost of his own life.»

Linkuu jumped backwards. «You're kidding!»

«No. He was delivered a mortal blow. No magic that I know, nor any potion could have cured that wound. The device that I was supposed to use to revive Ganon I instead tried to use to save him, but I was brought here instead. I do not know if he is still alive or if he died then. That is not in your legends, and I never got to see the result of my attempts.»

«Ah. I'm sorry.» Zelda looked up at him. «I'm not at all interested in replacing the Hero of Time, but I am his reincarnation. But I don't think I could do what he did. Sorry for that. And it probably hurts to know that I'm around, 'cause I'm not him.»

«It is alright, Linkuu. Because of the legends, you have a reputation I am not sure even he could fill.»

«Not those expectations. But yours, the ones of you have for a hero. He was strong, silent, courageous, and he even risked his life for you. I'm not like that at all.»

«Do not concern yourself about that. While it is true that you are not like him, as I stated earlier, that is to be expected. It is because of what happened to him as a child that made him as he was.»

«But I think you prefer your heroes the way that he acted,» he said with a mischievous grin.

Zelda flushed at the implication. «And what do you mean by that?»

«See, you're getting flustered.» Linkuu said as he laughed at her. «So I am right. Come on. The way you were talking about him. I mean, I believe in respect and honor and all that, but just the way you were talking about him.»

«He laughed at me for the same thing.» She said reflectively.

«What do you mean?»

«When I first saw him again in that distant land, I had noticed that he wore a darker green. I asked about it, but I immediately said that it was not because he looked bad, but,» She looked up in exasperation as she saw that Linkuu was roaring with laughter. «You too?» She inquired.

"You're getting red just repeating what you said to me!" He exclaimed while laughing. After a moment he quieted. He seemed to realize that he had spoken in modern Hylian while still chuckling. «Sorry. You were getting so worked up just relating what you said to me, I couldn't help it.»

Zelda sighed and smiled a little. The look on her face was one of longing at the thought of that incident. She looked back up at him. «This is very far and away from teaching me what you call modern Hylian. Would you mind?»

«What? No, no. Of course not. When I first heard ancient, I couldn't help but feel that it was so familiar. I felt like I could almost understand it, but it was like trying to hold water in my hands, I couldn't. But that feeling made it easier for me to learn. Do you get that feeling listening to modern?»

«I suppose so. I do feel as though I should understand what you are saying, but that would make sense. Your modern Hylian is derived from ancient Hylian. So the two should be similar.»

«Yeah. That's what Tetra said. That's because she's a lot cleverer then I am and she figures these things out fast. But she's never taken the time to learn ancient.» He chuckled and shrugged. «But that's not the point. Alright. I'll teach you reverse of how I learned ancient.»

He began to teach her the current language of the Golden Lands. Several hours he stopped abruptly when he heard the sound of a gong in the distance. "That's Tetra's pirate ship!" He exclaimed and jumped to his feet. He ran off.

Zelda hurriedly got to her feet and chased Linkuu as fast as she could. She came up to him on a small shore that was just down the hill from where they had been. Linkuu had jumped down while Zelda had been required to find alternate means to get to where he was going. She panted slightly when she caught up to him.

"Linkuu, what?" She asked as gracefully as she could in the strange tongue and while catching her breath.

He turned to her and beamed. «It's Tetra's pirate ship! See, I arranged to meet them here today. And that gong is the signal of their arrival. Look!» He pointed excitedly off to the distance. Zelda gasped at the sight of a large boat sailing up to the island. It had two crossed scimitars on the sails. Zelda stared at it and marveled at its size.

The ship stopped fifty yards shy of the shore. People piled onto what seemed to be a balcony. That balcony was lowered to the surface of the ocean and Zelda realized that it was actually a small boat. Men sat in the boat, oars pushed it through the water. Zelda watched it become bigger in her vision. When it was ten feet away from the shoreline Zelda looked curiously over the people in the boat. There were three men and one woman. With the exception of one man, they were all tan and wore modern Hylian clothes. Zelda's eyes widened as she closely scrutinized the more pallid man. Her body froze and her heart raced. She felt her strength leave her and she fell to her knees. Her gaze became focused on that man.

Zelda barely was cognizant of Linkuu quickly exclaiming, "Are you okay?!"

The man looked over at her and his gauntleted hand grabbed onto the side of the boat. It had barely beached itself against the sand when he jumped out and ran over to her. He got down on one of his knees and grabbed her shoulders. His blonde eyebrows were furrowed as his light blue eyes gleamed concern as they looked at her. She felt his grip tighten and then loosen after a moment.

«Link…» She muttered eventually, wondering if this was reality. She hadn't noticed that the three other people that had disembarked from the ship had joined Linkuu in staring in confusion. Zelda asked gently, «Is that really you?»

He nodded at her and exhaled. Something within her broke. Everything that had held her together since she had awoken in this strange new land and found she had been thrown forwards in time, everything that had kept her from crumbling with Umbra shattered. Instead of breaking instantly into hysterical crying as she had thought she would while discussing the Hero of Time with Linkuu earlier, she calmly took a shuddering breath and bit a quivering lower lip.

Link smiled at her. «I'm glad you're safe.» He told her.

«Me, alive?! I wasn't the one bleeding to death!» She riled against his one-sided concern for her. He acted as though his fatal wounds had been nothing and there was more concern to be had by her merely using Lei's Crystal. Hot tears began to fall down her cheeks.

Link smiled gently at her and let her bury her head into his chest as she bent over. He held her awkwardly, one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head, and let her cry.

«I know.» He whispered to her.

A full minute later Zelda pushed herself away from Link. She quickly wiped her eyes and her face was claimed by her inner calm once again. She exhaled and stood up. Link got up as well. He looked around, Navi rested silently on his shoulder.

«Where are we, do you know?» He eventually asked her, feeling the stares of the others.

Zelda nodded her head. She looked over to Linkuu and saw that he seemed to be in some form of shock and awe. "Linkuu, you know who he is." She said simply in modern. Link looked at her in confusion.

Linkuu jumped and said, "Yeah…yeah." He looked Link over and then looked back at Zelda. "He's…the guy you were talking about earlier."

Zelda nodded. Linkuu exhaled and held out his hand to Link. «My name is Linkuu. It's a pleasure to meet you. Zelda's told me a lot about you. You're the Hero of Time, Link, right?»

Link stared at him in confusion for a moment. His name was so similar to his own. Link nodded his head and shook Linkuu's hand. He gave Zelda a momentary look of inquiry. She smiled.

«Somehow we have been transported into the future, Link. What we are in is what happened to Hyrule.» Link looked around at the ocean and sighed. He wondered about what had happened to the places he had been to. «Linkuu is the Hero of Winds. He's your reincarnation.»

Link jumped at stared at Linkuu. He examined him carefully and Zelda watched as some form of understanding passed through Link. Navi flew off of his shoulder and hovered in front of Linkuu's face. The young man stared at the fairy with a friendly smile on his face. «And you are?» He asked Navi.

"I'm Navi the Fairy." She responded in modern several moments later. "I'm the guardian forest fairy that was assigned to Link. Since you're his reincarnation…" she flew around his head and then back to Link. "I guess that explains why I'm able to read your mind as well."

«So that means that because I need to read your mind, I had to learn modern hylian. Not that hard, really. So I can act as a translator.»

Link looked down at Navi. «I'll explain later.» She told him.

"Linkuu, what did Navi mean by you're his reincarnation. And why do they all sound like Valoo?"

"Tetra," Linkuu said as he turned to face the Pirate Queen. "That's the Hero of Time, the guy I'm the reincarnation of. And that's the original Zelda." He explained. She shook her head.

"I don't understand."

"I don't get it myself, but it's the truth." He replied. The two pirates by her seemed shocked into silence.

«Linkuu,» Zelda called out. The young man looked at her, his eyebrows raised, as though begging her to continue. «Who did you learn ancient Hylian from? Perhaps that person could teach us modern. To teach you, they must know both languages.»

«Yeah. That would make sense. Alright then. I was taught by the Great Deku Tree.»


	3. Eddies

Link started

Link started. «The Great Deku Tree?!» He exclaimed. Linkuu looked at him sharply.

Navi had jumped into the air; her wings were beating it so fast that she created a faint buzzing sound. «The Great Deku Tree is still alive?» She inquired as she flew over to Linkuu. «You mean it? Truly?»

Linkuu blinked a few times and then nodded his head. «Yeah. He lives in the Forest Haven.»

Zelda looked over at Link curiously. Then she remembered something. Link was a forest child. He had been raised alongside the Kokiri, the race of children that the Great Deku Tree guarded. Ganon had destroyed the Great Deku Tree to try and achieve his ambitions. She realized that Link must have known, and have some sort of bond, with the Great Deku Tree.

Linkuu looked between the three of them. «Do you guys wanna go to the Forest Haven?»

«YES!» Navi exclaimed. Link nodded his head immediately.

Zelda nodded her head as well. «I think it would be a good idea.»

"Alright then." Linkuu said and looked back at Tetra. "They say that they wanna go to the Forest Haven. I can't take them all in my ship, though."

Tetra shrugged. "Sure. And you're certain about this 'they're the original Hero and Zelda' thing?"

"They speak ancient and I doubt that they understand modern very well. That should be proof enough."

Tetra sighed and held her hands out in an uninterested and uncaring gesture. "Whatever. I just wanted to be sure." She looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Linkuu asked. Zelda saw a motion in the corner of her eye and blinked. Two young girls had run up to Linkuu.

"Linkuu!" They exclaimed in unison. One of the girls had brown hair tied back in a ponytail, wore a simple yellow dress, and was slightly taller. The other had dirty blonde hair let loose down to her shoulder blades, wore a green dress, and was slightly plumper.

He looked at them and closed his eyes into a grimace. The two girls giggled and grabbed him into a double hug. "You're back!"

He tried to use his arms to disengage them, but they refused to let go. "You're hurting me." He said in the voice of someone being suffocated. At that they unwrapped their arms from around him and stood with their arms behind their backs, bouncing and looking at him innocently.

"So why were you away for so long, Linkuu?" They asked in unison.

"I had some stuff to do." He reached up and rubbed his neck with one hand while reaching into his wallet with the other. He held out forty rupees. "Go buy yourself somethin' pretty." He said.

The screamed with joy and grabbed the two red rupees. They thanked him and ran off. Everyone turned and watched the girls leave. When they looked back at where Linkuu had been, he was no longer there.

"Over here!" He exclaimed. He was atop a rise in the ground waving at them. "I'm going to go get my boat. I'll meet you at the ship, Tetra!" He ran off. «Zelda, Link, go with her!»

In a general state of confusion, the two followed Tetra onto the boat. When the water seemed to be a problem for Zelda's skirts, she jumped over the gap and landed like a cat in the boat. Link sat down in the middle where he had been, right next to Zelda. The Pirates got into the back of the boat, with Tetra standing at the prow. Navi landed on Link's shoulder.

They Pirates paddled through the water, the boat glided to the larger ship offshore. Some other men on board lowered down two hooks that went at the prow and stern of the escape boat. The hooks were put into place and the boat was hoisted up out of the water. When it was above the deck of the ship and dripping water onto the wood, Linkuu hollered up, asking for them to pick his boat up as well. The hooks were lowered again and then the red boat was stowed on the side of the deck as well.

«Why did those girls so such affections towards you, Linkuu?» She asked. In old Hyrule, such displays were for people that cared greatly for each other. Only the generous gave money out so simply, or those who were in a relationship. She didn't quite understand what had transpired moments before. Link stood next to Zelda, not as much confused as she.

He rubbed the back of his neck. «Can't explain, but they've taken quite a liking to me, and the only way to get them to leave me alone is to send them off with Rupees, and then make quick my escape. They seem to think I've made some sort of vow to them. I've been trying to,» He was cut off short by loud booming laughter. Zelda looked over in surprise at Link, who had doubled over at what Linkuu had said and was laughing so hard she was concerned if he could breathe.

«H-hey! It's not funny!» Linkuu exclaimed, chagrined. Link continued to laugh. Tetra edged over to Linkuu.

"Why's he laughing?" She said out of the side of her mouth.

"I dunno, I was just explaining to Zelda about those girls, and he just," he waved his hand hopelessly at Link.

Whatever Link had found funny, it kept him laughing for well over a minute. It died down from hysterical laughter to infectious chuckling, and eventually some of the crew was snickering, though they didn't know why. He held his sides as he laughed. Link righted himself when he was finished. Linkuu was glaring at him. At this Link smiled and explained himself in four words.

«I've the same problem.» His voice was serious and showed none of the mirth that was draining from his face. He stood straight in the battle-hardened position of warriors.

At this Linkuu chuckled. He was amused at the idea of young women coming up and hugging this man. From what he had heard of Zelda, this serious position and expression were probably more common to Link. The idea that women might come up and do the same thing to Link as they did to him was just too funny. Eventually he was howling with laughter just as Link had been moments before.

Tetra groaned in exasperation. She mumbled something derogatory about men and walked off towards the helm of the ship. Link stood, uncertain of what he should do while Linkuu was laughing. Zelda's mouth had formed a small frown and her eyebrows were knitted in consternation.

"Hey, Linkuu! Whenever you feel like making yerself useful!" Tetra shouted as the sails died down. He stopped laughing and looked up at her, a wide grin on his face, he seemed ready to burst back into laughter at an instant's notice. "We need a good wind."

He chuckled a little and bit the inside of his cheek. "I could," he chuckled, "do better then that." He started laughing again. He had just envisioned Link being toppled to the ground by an eager woman like had been so many times. He sobered up a few seconds later, again holding back laughter. "I could use the Ballad of Gales and get us there."

"Fine, if anyone throws up though, you're swabbing deck."

"Okay," He called out in song. He stood straight and let his humor die down. His cheeks smoothed into a neutral position rather then being strained upwards. He opened his eyes and pulled something out of his tunic with his right hand. It was a silver rod with a complex handle. He closed his eyes again and began to move the rod in a graceful swoop. Down, right, left, up. His movements were punctuated by a chorus that sung from nowhere, seeming to originate from the object he used.

When he had finished, his arm dropped to his side. He looked up; Zelda mimicked him and saw a swirling vortex of wind dropped down around them. Link was startled and recognized the vortex as a cyclone. It was wide enough in diameter to hold the ship that they were on. The boat spun in time with the cyclone, a wild motion that made Zelda excruciatingly dizzy. The pirate ship was lifted out of the ocean and they were brought through the air along the cloud line at a sickening speed. Link grabbed Zelda's arm, pulled her next to him, and forced her eyes closed. She found the motion much less nauseating. Although she felt the forces of their motion, without visual cues the sick feeling of her bile rising dissipated.

Ten minutes later the cyclone touched down and left them somewhere. It slowly spun out to a halt. Link took his hand from Zelda's eyes and she looked around. The sun shone brilliantly here as it had done on Windfall Island. She looked around and saw two spires rising from the ocean, which she knew were ancient mountains from Linkuu's story, if there was anything on them it was either at the top where a little foliage peeked out, or more likely, buried on the inside. One was wide, the other tall. It was a contrasting image. She looked around and saw that a few people were collapsed on the deck, retching.

Then she realized that her back was pressed against Link, his arm wrapped firmly around her waist. She blushed and pushed his hand off of her. He seemed to realize how he was holding her and moved away. She turned to look at him and he had a sheepish expression in his eyes, he was scratching the back of his head. She waved her hand, moved over to the side of the deck and leaned against the railing.

«Hey, Link, Zelda.» Linkuu called out to them. «Apparently I need to clean the deck, Tetra's not happy with how sick I made her crew. So, um, I'll let you take my boat to the front of the Forest Haven so you can make your way to the Great Deku Tree.»

«Front of which island?» Zelda inquired.

Linkuu pointed to the wider one. «I'd guide, you, but I think that you figure it out.» He looked at Zelda, smiled mischievously, "Besides, it'll give you two a moment to be alone." He said in a singing tone that hinted at his taunting of her.

She frowned and looked over at a pail that was near the mast. It was full of water. She moved one of her hands to point at Linkuu and said, «_Waifer motena._» The water jumped out and splashed him in the back. He was jolted by the sensation and the crew on the ship broke into laughter. Tetra called out from her place at the helm.

"NICE!"

Linkuu eventually started laughing and Zelda smiled. Link was confused by Zelda's reaction and wondered what Linkuu had said. Navi seemed to be giggling. He mentally asked her what had transpired, and she just continued to laugh. Feeling like an outcast, not for the first time in his life, he simply reached into his tunic and pulled out a crystal made of a green material. Inside it was a green smoke that swirled as though it were in a breeze.

He thought the spell, «_Motena mek whiden_.» The winds picked up around him and he was transported at high speed towards his goal, the other side of the island Linkuu had pointed out. He landed in the water and treaded it for a moment before spotting what he needed. He put the crystal into his belt and swam towards an outcropping of rock nearly level with the surface of the water. Link grabbed the rock and hoisted himself up. He began walking, climbing up another level of the rock and saw that the path her was greeted with wound down towards sea level, and the other went up. Having a base knowledge of how things worked, Link began hiking up the trail. He was greeted by three Deku Babas. He reached for his sword and realized that it wasn't there. He went for the Fairy's Giant sword, but remembered that he had given it to Zelda. So instead he pulled out the gilded sword, which qualified as a large knife to him now, and slew the fiend

Link walked upwards and was confronted with another problem. There was a gap in the path that was wider then he could jump. Water fell over the side of the cliff on the opposite side down towards the lower trail to his left. He looked around and spotted a branch in the middle of the gap and several feet above him. He also spotted another Baba. Link pulled out his hookshot, wielding it in his right hand and the Gilded Sword in his left. He used the Baba's base as a holding point for the hookshot and crossed the gap and some of the flowing water. He then used his sword to slay the beast. He hopped from the stone in the middle of the narrow waterway and into the water. He felt the current try to pull him backwards, but with a few deft strokes he conquered it. In the water there was a shimmering barrier around him. It wavered and rippled with the current, but he came to a ledge that led to a large pool above the surface of the water he had seen a tunnel that he presumed led into the island.

When he stood above the water again, he took a deep breath. He couldn't drown, but his lungs still hurt. He walked into the tunnel. Link smelled something fresh and invigorating, like the Lost Woods after a rainstorm. He grinned and trudged through the water that covered his ankles. When he left the tunnel a thin greenish light, dappled as though he were in a forest, greeted him.

He looked up and saw that there was one great tree that grew up to the top of the island. It had several branches with leaves, but much of its foliage was at the top. He realized that the light's color came from breaking through the leaves of the massive tree. Link smiled, he realized that the tree must be the Great Deku Tree. The water cascading gently down a series of four-foot high falls and it seemed to be the source of the fresh scent. The air was laden with motes of light. To his right the small hole in the island continued to the top. To his left there was a stone cliff that was a little taller then he was. It seemed to be flush with the tree's roots. The cliff was coated in vines.

Link grinned and climbed up the cliff, using the vines as foot holds. When he was done clambering up the cliff, he stood up and brushed off his front. There was the sound of maracas behind him. Link turned swiftly, looking for the source of the noise. There was nothing there, except a sinuous vine that grew straight. He felt he could topple it by exerting only a little pressure upon the vine. He shook his head. The ground was thick with grass up to his knees.

Link walked around the narrow pathway until he came upon a large lily pad set in the middle of a pool. It seemed to be the source of the water and the tree grew from it. The lily pad was in the path that led from the pool around the tree to the stream that went outside the island. He looked at the tree and jumped. There was a face on it. It was made of gnarls in the wood, knotholes, and oversized lumps. To anyone else, it would have appeared to be a tree co medically ill formed, but Link knew what this was. There was the sound of maracas again. Link spun towards the source of the sound and saw what appeared to be a living sprout on the lily pad. It had small branches for arms, twin sturdy roots for legs, and a giant leaf over its face. He was surprised and intrigued. He cautiously walked over the creature. It was shorter then his knee, but some of the most dangerous enemies he had faced had sometimes been really small.

When he was next to it, the creature did not move. Link bent down on a knee and examined it. Suddenly it jumped up at him. Out of shock he was forced backwards, sitting down on the lily pad. His eyes were wide and he looked over the creature. The creature laughed, it was a cacophony of noises that resembled small wooden toys being clanked together. What startled Link even more was the booming and ancient laughter that he heard. He turned his head and saw that the tree was laughing. Its mouth moved as the sound echoed throughout the inside of the island.

Link stood and looked at the tree, brows coming together almost as one. He watched the tree laugh.

"I apologize, Linkuu," The tree eventually boomed, "but Makar insisted on surprising you. I hadn't expected it to work."

"Your face was amazing, Linkuu. I will cherish it forever!" It spoke in a small and thin voice. Link looked down at the creature and then back at the tree. They both spoke words he did not understand.

He found his voice, «Great Deku Tree?»

The tree stopped and scrutinized Link; it used a root to lift the lily pad Link was on. The small creature jumped off. It was about to speak when Navi shouted, «Great Deku Tree! You're alive!» She flew in from above and down towards the level Link was on. When she changed her path once she was down low enough, she flew into the tree and seemed to be glued to it.

«Is that you Navi the Fairy?» It asked after a long time.

«Of course it's me!» She exclaimed indignantly. «What happened to the Kokiri? Where're Danvi, Civara, and the others?»

The tree shook, leaves fell to the forest floor. There was a splash as the lily pad struck the water. «There have been no forest fairies in my domain ever since the Great Flood that turned the Golden Lands into an Ocean, Navi.»

«That's crazy,» Navi said obstinately, «Who watches over the Kokiri?»

«They too disappeared with the Great Flood.»

Link didn't hear Navi's indignant scream at his reply. Nor did he hear the following conversation. He was shaken. Saria and Mido, he had known that they probably wouldn't be here now, along with his Kokiri friends of old. But to hear the Great Deku Tree say it, he felt worse then his battle with Umbra had left him. It wasn't until he felt someone touch his shoulder that he was snapped out of remembering his past friends. He turned around. Linkuu stood in front of him, and Zelda was next to him. He looked into her clear blue eyes and felt as though she could see what was troubling him. Link turned away and walked off.

«Link?» Zelda called out. He didn't respond. Linkuu gave her a quick reassuring smile and left her standing on the lily pad, chasing after Link. Zelda sighed and looked at the Great Deku Tree. He was looking at her. She gave him a quick curtsey, the tree was said to be blessed by Faeore and capable of hearing the goddess's voice.

«Great Deku Tree, could you explain what's happened to make Link look so upset?»

«Link?» The tree's voice trailed off in question at the end of the name. It seemed to consider what she had said for a moment. «The Hero of Time?» He asked suddenly. Zelda nodded. «He was there? I thought it was Linkuu. But that was the Hero of Old, the one that grew in my domain? And I didn't recognize him?» The tree shook even more as it spoke. Zelda nodded again. «He must have heard me tell Navi that all of the forest fairies and the Kokiri children are no more.» Zelda looked confused. The Great Deku tree began to speak to her.

«Hey, older and more serious me,» Linkuu said as he came up to Link, Navi flying near him. He had gone outside of the Forest Haven and was sitting with his legs over the cliff that dropped to the ocean. Link looked up at him and then back at the ocean. «'Sup with the morose expression?» He asked casually and sat down next to Link.

Link fumbled with his sign language for a moment before realizing that there was no one left that would recognize the gestures. This thought only made him feel even bitterer. «The Kokiri are gone.» He said.

«Life turned around, again, huh?» Linkuu asked quietly. Link looked at him sharply. «Zelda explained to me what happened when you were a kid. That you grew up with the Great Deku Tree and the Kokiri and everything. And now you've once again found yourself transported to a strange land without anything familiar to you. And what is still around that you might have known, has been twisted.»

Link looked at him and twisted his head. «Well, the Kokiri aren't really gone, but they've changed.» Link's blonde eyebrows appeared as one with how close they had become.

«Child, the children that the Hero of Time knew are no longer what they once were. The Kokiri were Forest Sprites, their appearances are based on need. However, in times of great turmoil, they all die out and new ones replace them, always appearing different. When the Great Flood transpired, my sprout had to be moved to higher ground. The Kokiri lived for a little while in the Forbidden Forest, but then an Evil came that I could not protect them from, they were so distant from me. They were killed. In their place came the Koroks, the children that you see now. Likewise, the Gorons have nearly disappeared from the Golden Lands, unable to survive in this watery world. The Zora, unable to survive in a fishless sea, turned into a tribe of bird-people.» The Great Deku Tree explained. «The Forest Fairies that protected the Kokiri were also killed. Some fountain fairies have come here, but they are not the same as a Forest Fairy.»

«GREAT DEKU TREE!» Navi exclaimed flying in through the tunnel in a hurry. «GREAT DEKU TREE!» She shouted again.

«Peace, Navi. What is wrong?» the Great Deku Tree asked, trying to allay her fears.

«Link and Linkuu. They've been taken!»


	4. Flurry

Link settled back on the cliff he sat upon. His eyes gazed up at the sky. The wind was fresh and clean, it smelled of salt. The air was clear, its perfect blue marred only by a few stray white clouds. The sun shone brilliantly. He felt closer to it then he had felt before in his life. He glanced over at Linkuu, who had just finished his explanation.

«Oh,» Navi said simply in ancient, the language she was most comfortable with. The fairy settled on the cliff, her abject tone the only hint at how upset she was. Link looked down at her and then at Linkuu. He examined the boy whom Zelda had claimed was his reincarnation.

According Roke, he too was a reincarnation, or the new Hero. He wasn't sure which one it was. If the goddesses reincarnated the Hero if they felt that he would be needed or just simply chose a new child to bear the title of Hero in times of need. He looked at Linkuu, finding that all his features were startlingly similar to his own, but they showed none of his seriousness. Linkuu's face had soft lines, his own was gaunt and full of high angles. His eyes were normally set into a stern expression, while Linkuu's were wide and full of unbridled energy. They were different shades too. But they both had blonde hair, albeit different types. Linkuu's was the bright yellow of lemons, Links a titian shade of yellow kissed by strawberries. Although, he noticed, they seemed to prefer to style their hair almost identically. He wondered if these similarities were the fact that he was reincarnated, or that the goddesses chose their Heroes to resemble one another. Roke had left it rather ambiguous, and he added that to the list of questions that he had wished he asked.

Linkuu was giving him the same studious gaze, as though he were sizing him up too. Linkuu's eyes met his own and they seemed to realize that they were both doing the same thing. Linkuu laughed and Link found himself smiling. Either way, their similarities were uncanny. It put him out of balance to look at someone who was so close to him, and yet so far. He stood up, wondering if there was another out there that resembled Zelda like Linkuu resembled him. His gaze darkened as he watched the water swell a hundred meters off, and what about Ganondorf? Had he been reincarnated as well?

Link turned towards Linkuu and almost fell off the cliff in surprise. His eyes widened in both recognition and concern. Linkuu was being tightly held by a woman, one of her arms held his arms to him and another covered his mouth. He was being held inches above the ground, so he made no sound as his legs thrashed around. Her pale skin resembled a creature that was held in a cave for her entire life. She had a thin face that seemed to be carved from marble. Silver hair fell about her shoulders and hid behind her back. She wore a revealing and formal gown made of the darkest ebon cloth. Her hands covered by elbow length fingerless gloves of a similar shade. Only her surcoat was a different color, it was silver. Her purple eyes were filled to their depths with a dangerous desire.

He felt intimidated by her, but he reached up to his sword instinctively to help Linkuu. Only then did he realize that his sword was not there, for the fifth time. He cursed everything holy in his mind while pulling his hand down towards his gilded dagger.

"Looking for your sword?" A deep, lustrous, and cynical voice asked somewhere to his right and behind him.

Link turned around, at once enraged. A being of the darkest shadows stood as the undeniable source of the voice. There was a small rock in the river. This being was poised perfectly upon it, as though the awkward angles his feet were at connected to his body were of no matter to his balance. Red eyes gazed out at him through shimmering silver bangs, gleaming like a waxing moon on either side of his face. His left arm was extended, holding a black sword with thousands of spines along its length out at Link. The sword twisted and turned wickedly. He juggled another sword, from hilt to tip and tip to hilt, with the blade of his own weapon. The one he had referenced as Link's was wrought of silver, a copper handle, with flashing red gems. Compared to this man's, the silver sword was a smooth piece of ice, crafted for instant and perfectly formed cuts.

«Umbra!» Link shouted. His voice resounded off the side of the cliff, but didn't make it much farther then thirty meters with any distinct quality. He hadn't understood Umbra, but the slithering, velveteen, ice-cold voice was unmistakable.

Umbra laughed at Link's recognition. He cackled madly, the sound was insidious. All the while he kept his balance and never missed a beat in juggling the sword that had once been Link's. «You know, this Light Blade was hard to transport here with only Xeilia's help.» With his right hand he gestured at the woman holding Linkuu. «But I thought you might know of its existence.»

«You should be dead,» Link said, his voice quieted with distilled anger.

«You think that I am so easily destroyed? Oh no. Until the goddesses no longer desire their precious hero to ever come back, I cannot be killed.» The grin crossing his face was malevolent, «And, I can even prance about even if there is no Hero.»

«What do you mean?»

«The only way to destroy a shadow forever is to destroy the caster. Catch,» Umbra commanded simply. The Light Blade fell down past his sword's edge. Then Umbra struck it in a lightning fast maneuver. It moved towards Link, point first. Link moved his body to the side and snapped his left hand out, catching the sword before it was lost over the cliff and into the ocean.

«Good boy, you haven't lost your skills.» Umbra said as he disappeared from Link's sight. Link's eyes widened, Umbra was faster then he remembered.

He felt a jarring pain in the back of his head. He staggered forwards under the weight of the blow and turned around, raising up his weapon. He saw Umbra had appeared behind him to hit him with his hilt. Umbra raised a delicate silver brow. Link began to try and strike Umbra, but the force of the blow took affect, knocking him unconscious.

"Good," Umbra said. "Come, Xeilia, our guests shouldn't be kept waiting."

The woman laughed, it was more malicious then Umbra's own, although less intimidating.

Zelda's eyebrows furrowed as Navi related what had transpired with Link. Rage flowed through her. She was barely capable of restraining herself from lashing out at something, anything. Zelda turned on her heel and gave a graceful curtsey to the Great Deku Tree.

«I apologize for intruding upon you and leaving without a proper greeting or departure. But I'm afraid that I have things to attend to.»

«I understand,» the tree said as he lowered the lily pad, which he had raised while talking to Zelda. «Go now. Hyrule has great need of those two.» She nodded and ran out. When she got to the point where she would have to traverse water, Zelda shifted into Sheik. Using her guise, and the Sheikah magic it provided her with, Zelda was able to quickly run across the top of the water flowing from the Forest Haven. She jumped down the waterfall to the land below and ran along the top of the ocean to the pirate ship Tetra was on.

Zelda jumped to the deck of the ship, again using the Sheikah magic of her disguise. She landed on the deck and removed her disguise. The crew stared at her. She marched up to Tetra, who was leaning against the ship's mast. The Pirate Queen raised an eyebrow, arms crossed against her chest.

"Can I help you?"

Zelda searched for the words in the modern tongue, "Linkuu, he's," she stopped trying to figure out how to say captured.

"Captured." Navi chimed in. She flew up to the ship and floated between the two.

"I don't believe you."

Zelda looked at Navi, the fairy translated without hesitation. She huffed and had Navi translate for her. "Like it or not, it's the truth. Link, too, was taken."

"Give me a reason why I should believe you," Tetra said threateningly.

Once Navi had filled in the holes of Tetra's speech, Zelda composed a reply. The fairy was again the medium of speech as Zelda told Navi what words to say. "Because they're not in the Forest Haven. And last I saw, Linkuu was heading out to talk with Link on the cliffs. Neither one is in sight now."

Tetra frowned as she stood straight and look Zelda in the eye. The crown Princess of ancient Hyrule matched her intense gaze. After a long moment Tetra took a deep breath, exhaled. "So if you're telling the truth, have any idea where to go?"

Zelda frowned. She had hoping that the Pirate Queen could help her with that. Hyrule's territory had been covered with water, and as such she was no longer familiar with the layout of the land. Zelda was about to make note of this when a voice that was so familiar to her floated through the air towards her.

«You want him back, dear Princess?»

Zelda spun around and saw that she had been right in identifying the voice. Umbra was standing on the railing of the ship, sneering down at her. She shivered at the intensity of his red eyes, and the emotions she could sense through them. He smirked and jumped down to the deck. His footsteps were whispers as he made his way over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

«Is there something wrong, Princess?» He hadn't changed at all, Zelda realized. Not through all the time that had passed, he hadn't changed in the slightest. His voice still shattered her fortitude. His face being inches from hers wasn't helping her.

She shuttered, took a rattling breath and created a barrier around her body. The blue diamond shape that formed around her forced him backwards, the flickering of light hurt him. Zelda opened her eyes, allowing her rage to overwhelm her emotional capacities, destroying his effect on her.

Her voice was cold when she spoke. «I saw you die.»

«Killing me is not so simple, Princess.» He said gently. She refused to let his tone soothe her.

"W-Who are you?" Tetra inquired while Zelda and Umbra stared at each other; the former with a glare, and the latter with a sinister smile. She had seemed to be made of steel, but Zelda saw that his presence had a similar effect on her.

He laughed. "Afraid, Tetra?" He placed a hand on his chest, over his sternum.

Tetra shivered as he spoke her name and drew one of her swords. It was a long curved blade, similar to the scimitars that the Gerudo used, and pointed it with a shaking hand at Umbra. "How do you know me?"

"Why," his smile was razor thin, "I do believe that there's some mettle in you." His grin widened to show his teeth. All were razor sharp. "Very good, Tetra." He said all this as he advanced towards the Pirate Queen.

Zelda got in front of him. «What have you done with Link?» She demanded.

He stopped, gave her a sullen look, and began to chuckle. «That concerned, are we? Very well, I suppose that it's time for the princess to rescue the Hero. You'll find him where he found you.»

Umbra mockingly bowed to her and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Zelda turned to Tetra. The pirate was still holding her sword out, overcome by violent tremors. Zelda rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tetra stopped shaking, looked into her eyes and then sheathed her weapon. The rest of the crew was likewise rattled by the shadow.

Zelda looked at Tetra, and then over to Navi. She exchanged a few words about the location she had been in. "Tower of the Goddesses." She said succinctly.

"What's that?"

She fished around for the words and then spoke. "Where they are." Her speech was hesitating, but still calm. Her anger had already flooded from her.

"Well, that place isn't around here, that's for sure." Tetra said. Zelda had some trouble getting around her accent, it was delicate, not like that of the other Pirates, but it still made some words hard to understand.

"It's tall." Zelda said, "In the middle of Hyrule." Her breath caught as she scrambled together two facts. Linkuu had taken her past a giant stone tower in earlier. He had told her that it had been risen partially up from underwater by one of his exploits. When looking at a map, it was in the center of the Great Sea. The Tower of the Gods must have been the Tower of the Goddesses that Navi said Amagetten and Umbra had held her prisoner. "I think the name was changed to the Tower of the Gods."

"Oh, the Tower of the Gods," Tetra said knowingly. She waved over her hand. "It's just a little ways off over there." Zelda looked in the direction she waved. She couldn't make out the base, but the ghostly silhouette pierced the clouds. She gaped at its height.

"All hands, get to work. We're going to the Tower of the Gods!" Tetra shouted. The crew jumped out of the dazed state that Umbra had left them in and ran about to do their work.

* * *

Link groggily became aware of things around him, though foremost in his thoughts was the ringing pain in the back of his head as he lay on his stomach. He tried to stand, but fell face first to the ground, unable to move much with some pressure around his wrists and ankles. Link maneuvered his head to look down and saw what held him in place. Chains tightly wound around a spike to keep him on the stone floor. There was one spike for each fetter.

He tugged at his wrist and found that there was enough give for him to move it three inches in any direction that he wanted. «Just enough,» He noted to himself. He moved his wrist around, using a variety of motions and painful positions to get one of the loops freed from the spike. It took effort, the spike it was wound around was well over three inches from the top of the loop. He had to move his body to free that loop. Once that was done, Link was able to quickly unwind the rest of the chains. Then he moved to his right arm. With the left already free, he had more room to move his upper torso, which made the second appendage easier to free, although mildly difficult. He looked back what that which chained his legs, and frowned. It took another three minutes of effort to free his legs. The chains were all three feet in length, which gave him enough room to gather himself into a sitting position.

Link examined the links around his hands. They had taken away his gauntlets, and the metal was flush against his skin. He resigned himself, he couldn't make his robust hand any smaller, and thus unable to free his hands. He found that the iron around his ankles were the same. His boots had been taken away, and the metal was against his bare ankles.

There was a grunting sound. Link looked over and saw that Linkuu was trying to pull a spike from the ground. The young man eventually collapsed on the ground, panting, covered in sweat. Link sat with his arms crossed and looked at his other self. Linkuu looked around and spotted Link. He crawled along towards Link until at the end of his tether, six feet from Link. Link sat there and looked at him. He raised a hand and motioned for Link to come closer. Link raised his hand and moved along the ground. There was four feet between them now.

Linkuu sighed. He spoke up.

«I was afraid that they had killed you. You were pretty still. Glad to see you up.» He said swiftly. Link nodded and raised his left hand in greeting. He glanced at his right hand and saw the brand of the Triforce on the back of it. The lower right triangle was burned the darkest into his skin. He looked up at Linkuu as he held his hand up, making the Triforce face the other.

Linkuu blinked several times and then lifted up his hands. Link was surprised to see the same mark etched on the back of his hand. It was the same as his own. He smiled a moment before his face became serious.

He looked around the room he was in. It was simple. It was also a room he recognized. Link's eyes settled onto a spot in the distance of the room. He was startled to see that there was red stained into the stone floor. He looked around other parts, the room otherwise showed no lasting remnants of the fight that had ensued here. His eyes settled back on the spot of blood, it was faded, but there.

Linkuu joined him in looking at the blood. His eyebrows furrowed. «Yeah. I've been wondering about that myself.»

«It's the blood of the first person Link murdered.» A sinister voice said.

Linkuu turned his head in time with Link. They both spotted Umbra. There was a dais to one part of the room. Link remembered it well. What he hadn't remembered, and what he was surprised for not noticing before, was the throne wrought of shadow on the dais. It twisted sinisterly and had something dark purple on the seat and back. He doubted how comfortable it was. It appeared that there was blood splattered all over it, and given the occupant, Link wouldn't have been surprised if it was blood. Seated there was Umbra, and with a hand on the right arm of the throne was the woman from before. If he remembered correctly, her name was Xeilia.

She smiled at them with purple eyes roving between the two of them. There was something about her that caused a lump to form in Link's throat. He wondered about it for a moment before deciding that it was not fear of her. He examined her, and was shocked at how similar she was to Zelda.

«Ah, you noticed.» Umbra said. His chin was resting in his hand as his left elbow rested on the throne's arm. A smile had crept across his face as he had watched Link. The Hero of Time looked at his shadow and narrowed his eyes.

«Who are you?» Linkuu inquired suddenly.

"Me?" Umbra inquired. He stood up and stretched his limbs. "I'm your shadow. Well, rather technically, his," at that he jammed a thumb at Link. "Though yours as well."

Linkuu looked confused at Umbra's response and looked at the original hero. Link was still examining the woman. For her part, she continued to stand there, allowing him to scrutinize her every detail carefully. He wondered if like he had a shadow, perhaps this was Zelda's.

«You are correct,» hissed Umbra. He knelt on the ground near Link, one arm resting between the crook of his body and his thigh. «A powerful enchant of mine using your Zelda. Xeilia is your Princess's darkness like I am yours.» He laughed at Link's confused expression.

«You don't understand? Very well, I shall explain. I used your Princess to summon Xeilia into this realm. She has always existed as her doppelganger, it just took effort on my part to call her forth from our native realm.» The smile on his face was wide now. «I must say, she's better then I had remembered her. I wonder why you keep denying yourself what you want from Zelda.»

Link understood what Umbra had meant and immediately felt rage boil inside him. Xeilia smiled at his anger. However, when he tried to hit his shadow, the chains tightened on the floor and he was unable to move an inch.

«Oh, poor Link. He can't move at all.»


	5. Gusts

Around the Tower of the Gods there was a ring of stone pillars. Between the pillars was an arch connecting each pillar to the one next to it, and the top of the arch was covered by smooth pieces of stone. Someone could walk over the top of the ring without even the slightest change in angle. This whole arrangement was fifty feet from the tower just above sea level. The tower itself was circular. It gently tapered inwards as it went up, so gently that Zelda couldn't tell until she had been looking at its slender frame for ten minutes as they came closer to it. She was taken by the height of the tower for it pierced the clouds.

"It's really tall, isn't it?" Navi asked her. Zelda nodded.

"Well," Tetra said, "You think that this is the place?"

Zelda tried to look at the top of the tower. That is where Umbra had taken her. The sun was just hidden by the top of the building. Even when she squinted her eyes, she couldn't make out anything of the black silhouette that the sun created of the tower.

She looked at Tetra. "I am not sure." She said simply. It had taken several hours for the boat to sail here, and she had nearly mastered the language just by listening to others speak it.

Tetra crossed her arms and examined Zelda. "Very well," Tetra said after a long moment. "To get to enter the Tower, you'll need to come with me. This ship can't fit through the archways."

Zelda lowered her gaze to the arches that constituted the opening to the Tower. The pirate ship would be unable to fit through the narrow gaps. She looked over at Tetra and nodded. The Pirate Queen led Zelda to the portside of the ship. There was the small dinghy that the Pirates had used to get to Windfall when they had stopped the large ship from running aground. Tetra hopped in and Zelda followed. They hovered over the ocean.

One of the crew came up, "Should one of us come with you, Miss Tetra?" He extended his hands, holding out two oars.

Tetra took them and passed one back to Zelda. She considered the Princess for a moment. "Ever paddle a boat before?"

Zelda thought. She never had, but she quickly remembered what the Pirates had done when paddling. "No, but I shall manage." She placed the oar on the seats in the dinghy. Then she shifted her form into Sheik.

"Hey, I know Linkuu could swim from the ship to the island and you could do crazy magical stuff to get over there, so you didn't need a boat. But I can't paddle this by myself."

"Not it," Sheik said in a muffled voice. It was almost distinctly masculine. Her red gaze seemed to shock Tetra when she fixed it upon the pirate. "I have more strength like this." She settled into her seat in the stern of the dinghy.

Tetra sighed and faced forwards. She raised her hand and brought it down. The crew on the ship let go of the rope that was holding the dinghy over the side and they fell to the surface of the sea. Sheik and Tetra started to paddle the boat forwards. It took Sheik a minute to get the hang of paddling, but once she did, the boat moved swiftly through the water.

It was only a few minutes until they were before the entrance to the tower.

"Din," Tetra cursed under her breath and pointed at a stone seal over the entrance under Sheik's red-eyed gaze. "That's not supposed to be there."

They paddled the boat closer to the entrance and examined it. Carved into it were three superimposed outlines over three triangles with symbols upon them: two triangles on the top and one on the bottom. In the center of the symbols was a glowing outline of something that could have been a birds-eye view of the tower. The symbols played with the fringes of her mind, as though she should remember them. But they were warped, twisted versions of what she knew. Carved along the edges of these three images were words.

"I have absolutely no idea what that means. Do you?" Tetra said after examining the seal.

Sheik jumped over the edge of the boat and walked along the water to in front of the seal. It was darkened by the fact that it was set in several feet from being flush with the entrance. She raised a bandaged hand and a small flame lit up in her palm. She pushed blonde bangs out of her eyes and scrutinized the words. It was an ancient language, even for her. The words played with her until she realized that the words were in the language that she spoke and thought to use magic. There was a spell over the door.

She could say the words, but she decided not to. Without understanding the spell, she could carry it out and never realize the desired effect of the spell. It could be a trap she thought. Instead she tried to decipher it. Fideh, that was fear. Wrytaia, that was wrath. Sodistaica, that was sadism. Those were the only words near each triangle. They were words only used for the darkest of spells. The rest was under the triangles and read: cobendoi trica peints enden inmotena ix sebzel. It took her a moment before she could understand the meaning of the runes. Fear, Wrath, Sadism cover three points and remove the seal. She looked at the symbols in the triangles and then at the runes near them. The runes were smaller and simpler versions of those symbols.

Sheik realized something else. The pattern of the triangles looked like the Triforce, only the top triangle moved to the bottom so there was no void space between the triangles. She a quickly called to mind the symbols of the Triforce: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Their runes in the ancient language were similar but different to those of Fear, Wrath, and Sadism.

She recalled something from the lessons of Impa. It was a fable myth from darker times. She had never thought it to be true and had only taken the moral, that dark and light were forces that would always constantly oppose each other. The story of the myth was a struggle between light and dark. That darkness had created a symbol of power to mock the light. It was a twisted version of the light's, just like everything that the dark produced. Living creatures and now a symbol of power. All perverse versions of that which was good.

Sheik stumbled backwards and fell into the boat. Her strength of mind had left her and she had begun to sink into the water. Her knees were hooked over the edge and her lower legs were plunged into the salt water. For the first time she found herself cursing, «Din.»

Tetra slowly moved forwards and shook her shoulder, trying not to shake the boat as violently as Sheik had with her sudden drop. "What's wrong?" Tetra inquired.

Sheik looked up at Tetra and explained, "I am afraid that the situation is quite a lot worse then I had originally anticipated."

"Explain yourself." Tetra said sharply.

Link sat crossed legged in his chains. Rage and anger boiled within him. He looked at Linkuu. He looked rather desolate where he was.

Link frowned. He pounded his fist sharply on the ground. The noise and the rattle of chains made Linkuu look up at him. He pointed at Linkuu and raised an eyebrow, asking him what was wrong. Linkuu seemed to understand the motion.

«I had it all planned out. I was going to meet Tetra at Windfall and then we were going to go to Outset, and I was going to take her where I had first met her and then…» He trailed off, looking at the ground.

Link settled back and smiled slightly, using a chained arm to prop himself. He had been gone from Hyrule for seven years. He had seen a great deal of people fall and love, and sometimes he usually had to wind up helping them out. Link hadn't known Linkuu for very long, but just now he had seen the same expression in his eyes, the same expression Kafei had when explaining his situation with Anju when they had first met. A thought suddenly occurred to Link and he ducked his head, shading his face with his hair. If Linkuu had fallen in love with Tetra, and if Linkuu was so much like him. He cut his thoughts off there, not wishing to think about it further.

Link drew a breath, without Navi there he'd need to reassure Linkuu himself. Navi had always translated his thoughts so wonderfully, he was rather awkward with words himself. He exhaled and looked at Linkuu. «Don't worry. When we get out, you'll be able to do as you were planning.»

"When?" Linkuu repeated in a tone thick with suspicion, instinctively speaking in his native tongue.

Link's mouth twitched. Even though he couldn't understand what Linkuu had said, his body language, expression, and tone said it all. He nodded and slowly repeated the word, "When."

His suddenly speaking modern Hylian shocked Linkuu into silence. And then he began to laugh. Link smiled.

Linkuu stopped laughing and looked at Link, examining him closely. «And why are you so confident?»

Link shrugged and grinned. He wasn't sure, he just was. Something always seemed to work for him and he lucked out. When he had become the Hero of Time, most of his victories had been luck, he didn't acquire the skill needed until much later on in his life. Even the fight with Ganondorf had been luck, and in small part his rage at the man for kidnapping Zelda. His eyes darkened.

«Zelda's out there.» Link said slowly as the realization dawned upon him.

Linkuu nodded. «Tetra too, I suppose.» His eyes widened. «Hey, do you think that they'll be alright?»

Link's eyebrows furrowed together. He looked at his tunic. It was still that dark green color that Zelda had originally noted. Not the color of the Kokiri forest or the green of the fields that it should be. That relieved him. He reached up his hand and felt the secret pocket of his tunic where he had three small objects stowed away. He felt around and pulled out the three of them. He was surprised that he hadn't been relieved of them as he had his sword and shield. As he was with the object that tinted his tunic a dark green color. He placed the three crystals on the ground. One was green, one blue, and the other red. All told, their combined size wasn't much bigger then his fist. He reached up to his head and thought to himself, vitulai.

Reality seemed to shatter around Link. His tunic returned to its normal bright coloration. Hanging around him like a cotton fog was a sheer lime green veil. It was thin, but long and wrapped around his entire body, forming a giant cocoon. It shifted as he moved his arm to unwind it from around him. As he pulled it away there was a light sound of harp chords being plucked. He had to lift his body off the ground to get it unwound but eventually the garment was in his two hands, no bigger then a small scarf.

Link picked up the three crystals and wrapped them in the veil. Once it was in a good enough bundle, he twisted a light knot in the cloth. He stared hard at the green colored crystal. He had tried a few magic spells to break the fetters on him, but each time the chains tightened and drained him off his strength. He steadied his thoughts and focused them around Zelda. A thought came to him and he also focused on Sheik. Then he barely whispered, «_Motena teir Zelda whiden._»

The bundle glowed bright neon green and disappeared through the wall of the room, heading upwards. Once the bundle was gone, the chains tightened and seemed to shrink, forcing him to be splayed face first on the ground. They charged with electricity and drained his strength.

"I see," Tetra said, "So you believe that this dark power which fought the light is behind this."

"Not only that," Sheik said, pulling her mask down. Although her voice was still deeper then a woman's, the gender was harder to determine without the scarf. The lower part of her face, with the stern and determined mouth, the full lips, the defined, yet soft, jaw, and the blush in her cheeks made it that much harder for Tetra to determine if she was a boy or a girl. "But I believe that to save Link and Linkuu, we'll need to defeat this dark power, or its minions."

"Geesh," Navi said, "no wonder you always kept that scarf around your face."

"Are you a boy or a girl?" Tetra inquired.

Sheik frowned and narrowed her eyes. "A girl. This disguise has the trademark features of the Sheikah, including a naturally more muscular body. I used this to hide from Ganondorf for seven years. He was never able to tell. It's just that breathing is difficult with the mask up. Did you listen to me at all?"

Tetra nodded. "Yeah. But where do you think we need to head?"

Sheik looked back at the seal. Hidden within the outline of the symbols were outlines, similar to the glowing one in the center that she presumed to be the tower, as it would appear on a map. A thought ignited in her mind. "Do you have a chart or a map or something like that?"

Tetra nodded. "Yeah. Copied it from Linkuu. It's on the ship."

Sheik smiled. "Good. Let's go."

She was about to unfold her legs to stand up when something green and glowing flew up through the floor of the dinghy. Sheik blinked several times as it settled into her lap and stopped glowing. She picked up, the fabric was stiff, yet soft. She could see through it and at the crystals. She quickly undid the knot and held them up.

"What are those?" Tetra asked.

"They are fragments of the goddess' powers. Din's fire, Farore's Wind, and Nayru's Love. Shortly after forming the Golden Lands, they formed gems that were infused with great magic. The gems were broken and fragmented. Each piece possesses a different form of the original gem's power." She reached under the bandages wrapped tightly around her chest and procured three fragments of her own. "I have three pieces myself." She held them in between her fingers as she would daggers and then gathered the pieces in her hand right hand. The gems all began to glow and each same colored crystal fused together. The pieces were twice their original size and had taken a different form. One was like a small leaf, the other resembled a flame, and the third a wave. Sheik paused and then hid the three gems back where she had had them. The fit was tighter now that the gems were larger, but she managed.

She moved her attention to the piece of cloth they had come in. Her breath caught. «This, this is Farore's Robe!» Sheik exclaimed. She looked at Tetra after quickly calculating some figures. "Stand up." The pirate did so.

Sheik moved over to Tetra and lifted her hand and the cloth above the Pirate's head. It began to shift and glow as Sheik moved her hand along its length. As it elongated, she twirled her hand, the cloth wrapped around Tetra and fell towards her feet. Sheik forced Tetra to sit and the cloth tucked itself around on both ends as Sheik let it go. Tetra was covered in a green sheer cocoon.

"No offense, but whatever this is, it's going to obstruct my movement." Tetra unconsciously pushed herself into a standing position. The cloth grew to allow her to move freely, but retracted into a position hovering just over her body. Tetra looked down at it and extended her hands out around her. The cloth shifted and grew in size, expanding the bubble so she could move. The Pirate's eyebrows raised and she looked at Sheik.

"It's a celestial garment," Sheik explained, "You can traverse any environment with it around you. Farore's robe will even allow you to breath underwater. As a Sheikah, I can do the same."

"That's why you gave it to me."

Sheik nodded her head. She was quickly trying to figure out the source of the items and then she voiced aloud, "Link must have-" At that moment there was a burst of energy and the boat shattered into splinters of wood. Sheik quickly moved, grabbing Tetra as the pirate fell into the water. Using magic, she braced herself on top of the water and looked for the source of the attack.

"A pleasure to see you as always, Princess!" A voice called out. Sheik looked where it came from and saw Umbra balanced on the top of the ring around the Tower. She could hear the sneer on his face and felt the sarcasm as he bowed to her and disappeared.

Sheik looked down at Tetra and pulled up the scarf over her nose, just under her eyes. Tetra looked up at Sheik and frowned. Sheik ignored the Pirate Queen, holding her by the back of her collar, and walked forward. Tetra was dragged through the ocean water. Only her waist above the surface. The waves were no problem to Sheik; she crossed them as she would hills. Navi flew behind them cautiously.

Sheik traced their path back to the ship, or least where it should have been. Standing there was a lone black figure, resting upon the water's surface. The figure's back was turned to them. It faced Linkuu's boat, hand caressing the dragon's head.

Tetra squirmed in Sheik's stead fast grasp, as though trying to get her to let go. "'Ey! What in Din's name did you do with my ship?" She shouted. "Where's my crew?"

"They're far away, but still alive." A voice called out that was neither distinctly female nor male. The figure turned around. Sheik's red eyes widened. Standing before them was a twisted version of her. Black cloth clung to this one's body as blue clung to hers. A black scarf wrapped around her mouth. There were dark gray bandages instead of white. Her black eyes met Sheik's and she laughed. Her body resembled Sheik's but patches of skin were visible, making gender still hard to determine, but easier.

«Who are you?» Sheik demanded loudly.

"I am Invei as you are Sheik, dear Zelda."

Her body stiffened. Invei walked over to her and laid a hand on Sheik's shoulder. "I think you're beginning to comprehend what's happening." She could hear the smile, "Please, do try and continue with what you are doing. I left the map for you."

With that their vision flashed to black and then Invei was gone. Sheik found herself again cursing, «Nayru! What's going on?» She heaved Tetra onto Linkuu's boat and got in herself.

Tetra spent the next several minutes spitting curses. When her vehement anger had reached a low, Sheik inquired for the map.

"Right." She spat out another curse and moved over to the back compartment of the boat, which Zelda had sat upon when Linkuu had brought her to Windfall. Tetra fished out a large roll of yellowed paper. The pirate settled on the floor and unrolled it. Sheik knelt down and looked at the map. Her eyes roved over the map. She spotted the outline that had been in the center of the door. The map was made of seven rows and seven columns, she figured that they were in the fourth row and the fifth column.

She pointed to the square she thought that they were in, "We are here, right?"

"Yeh." Tetra replied with a hint of anger.

Sheik moved her finger around the map, trying to find the outline that matched the one in the bottom of the door. She found it, two squares south of their position.

"We must go here, Tetra." She said calmly.

Tetra moved and pulled out a small round device from the compartment. She stood up and moved to face the horizon on a certain point. She licked her finger and held it up and then looked down at the device.

"The wind's blowing northeast. It would take us days to get there."

Sheik frowned and then looked for the point that would be northeast, in the upper right side of the door. She found it, two squares east and north. "Here, then."

Tetra nodded and then angled the ship, checking their position with the small device. Once she had moved it into an acceptable position she grabbed a twine loop attached to the mast. She pulled on it and the sail that had been drooped down over the yard lifted upwards. There was a clip on the string at just the right position to fasten onto a metal piece on the mast to fasten the sail in place.

The winds caught the sail and the boat jumped forwards. The water was almost glass smooth. Tetra commented on how unnatural that was. They had to sail through the night, Sheik offered to stay awake the entire night. Tetra said that they would split it, she sleeping the first half and Sheik the latter half of the night. It was the evening of the next day when Tetra pointed to the horizon.

"There it is. The Flight Control Platform."

Sheik peered at the horizon; she could just barely make out the bulge that Tetra was pointing to. The winds had changed during the morning and were blowing directly east, which made their traveling much harder. She figured that it would be at least several more hours until they arrived, which would be in the middle of the night. She looked around, to pass the time they had been talking, teaching each other about their respective Hyrule. Her mind was numbed by the information, and she could tell that Tetra's was as well.

She spotted the device that Tetra had been holding and plucked it off of the floor of the boat. She was looking at something similar to a clock face. It was a white background with four large marks at right angles to each other and then four smaller ones breaking the distances between the large marks in half. Instead of hands in the center of this clock, however, there was one straight bar, black on one half and white on the other. It was pointed at either end. Sheik twisted it around, no matter how she jerked or turned the clock, the straight bar resolutely had the white half pointing at her and the black pointing away. There were runes marked just astride the large marks. She moved her arm away from her body, the bar did not move aside from a slight wiggle.

Tetra was watching Sheik very closely. When she brought it closer to her and began to examine it, the pirate could no longer hold back her laughter. Sheik looked up at Tetra in confusion. What manner of clock was this? When she voiced her question, Tetra only fell to the deck of the boat in hysterics.

Tetra pulled herself up, shaking the boat with her motion, while still laughing. "Don't you know what a compass is?" Sheik shook her head. "It's a device that always points north, sailors use it."

Sheik tossed the compass to Tetra. "They don't have devices such as a compass that I was familiarized with."

"I can tell."

Only slightly miffed, Sheik settled into the back of the boat and watched as the Flight Control Platform, whatever that was, came into better focus. It was a multi-tiered wooden platform that they were parallel with. The sun was setting when Tetra began to guide the boat to the large dock and ramp in the back of the platform.

"Got any idea as to what we need to do?" Tetra asked as she jumped out of the boat, after pulling the sail down, and onto the ramp.

Sheik landed lightly on the wooden planking. She shook her head and walked forwards. She was hoping that it would become self-evident when they got to the top. There was a ladder guarded by what she assumed to be a Rito, as Tetra had described them. It was a large creature with wings on its arms and a beak on its face. It raised a hand to stop her.

"Only those with wings may try this ultimate challenge. You are not a Rito."

Normally she would have stopped to explain herself, but she was not in the mood. Uncharacteristic impatience took her and she leapt over him onto the their above. On top there was another Rito. He too tried to stop her, but she saw what she wanted. On the surface of the water in the distance, just below a large gate that marked the end of roped pathway of large proportions was the black figure, with her Sheikah eyes, she knew it was Invei, and the woman was staring straight at her.

"Oi, what's up?" Tetra asked as she climbed up the ladder. Sheik turned to her thoughtfully.

"Are you good with a bow?"

"Relatively. But I don't have one."

Sheik looked to her left, there was a jar filled with arrows. She walked over to the jar and then examined the wooden railing of the platform. She grabbed it after a moment and then used her foot to break off a piece nearly a yard long. Muttering a magic spell, the piece of railing shifted before the Rito could protest and she plucked out a strand of her hair. Muttering another spell, it lengthened and wound around the bent wood, forming a crude bow. She tossed the weapon to Tetra and placed the jar by her foot.

"I'll bring Invei closer, you shoot her if you get the chance." With that she ran off the platform, through a narrow space that was aligned in the center of the pathway roped off in the water. She landed on the surface of the ocean, halfway down, and ran forwards. She used magic to help her rush forwards and stopped in front of Invei, who was leaning with her back to the wooden pole of the gate. The woman was staring at her, scrutinizing her, and then slowly stood up.

"I see you figured out our challenge, but I was sure that you would." Invei said calmly. She lifted up her hand and a small ornament appeared attached to the chain, it was a dark red coloration. "_Wrytaia._ Wrath. One of the points of dark pleasure. To get into the Tower of the Gods, you'll need this."

"Wrath is a feeling, a mood. It's not that." Sheik said, pointing at the object.

"Liken your Zora Sapphire to this Stone of Ire."

The two stood there, looking at each other until Sheik spoke, "And you'll not just hand it over?"

Invei chuckled and placed the chain around her neck. "Should it be that easy for you?"

Before Sheik had a chance to react, Invei had rushed at her. She used a back flip to get out of the way, landing on her hands and then her feet. She checked the distance between herself and the platform and groaned. She had a long way to back up until Invei would be in range of Tetra.

Sheik did a second flip to avoid a one handed strike from Invei, her hand in a position that could easily cause a great deal of damage. She landed on the ocean and shook her hand, forcing several small sharp needles along a metal pathway from a storage container wrapped around her forearm and hidden by the wraps into the palm of her right hand. She jumped over a strike from Invei again and threw the needles at her opponent. A splash of water created by Invei purposefully striking the water with her foot blocked the needles.

Sheik landed on the ground and rushed at Invei. As she came close to the black clad warrior, she tried to elbow Invei with her right arm. Invei jumped up, landed on her elbow, and jumped off. Sheik was forced onto the water, magic making it act like a hard floor. She had to curl and roll to avoid a strike. She landed, twisted around and rushed at Invei. She stopped just short as Invei began to leap into the air. She lashed out her left arm, a chain hidden under the wraps around her forearm slid out and she hit Invei with the tip, magical energy electrifying it and shocking her opponent. As Invei fell to the ground, she rushed forwards, jumping slightly, and kicking Invei in the stomach.

Invei grabbed her foot and swung her around. Sheik slid along the surface of the water and moved into a crouched position. Invei's attack had hurt, but it had also brought her closer to Tetra. As Invei leapt at Sheik with a strike, she twisted her torso to the side and as Invei passed her, she grabbed Invei by the arm and threw her closer to Tetra. She looked up and saw a bright yellow light glimmering in the darkness, realizing it was a light arrow, Sheik rushed at Invei, trying to get her foe into a stable position.

It was as though Invei knew what was happening and she instantly became more evasive. It became harder for Tetra to track her and for Sheik to land a blow. Invei seemed to disappear from sight and hammered Sheik with a series of blows that left her paralyzed, almost unable to move. After a few seconds, and thirteen forceful strikes, Sheik lifted up her hand to the small of her back. A small dagger of various pastel colors appeared in her hand. As Invei came in for another strike, Sheik used her hearing to locate the fiend, she lashed out with the dagger. It punctured Invei, but drew no blood.

Invei stopped for a full second, completely surprised by Sheik's attack. The transformed princess withdrew the dagger and ripped the ornament from Invei's throat, tearing it off the chain. It was as though a sudden weight consumed her. Even with her potent Sheikah magic, she was dragged down to the depths of the ocean. Once below the surface, she felt as though something was strangling her. Just before she passed below the surface, there was a strike of light that hit Invei, and the figure disappeared into black smoke.

«What was that?» Linkuu inquired of Link as the hero as the chains effects faded and his mind gently came back to consciousness.

Link groaned and sat up. He looked blearily at Linkuu, just about to ask him to repeat his question when one of their captors spoke in a deep voice.

«I should be surprised that you were able to use blessed magic with those binds, but I'm not terribly astounded.»

Link and Linkuu turned immediately to the source of the voice. Umbra was seated on the throne, resting his chin in his right hand, the elbow of his arm pressed against the arm of the throne. There was an amused smile on his face as he peered down at them.

"What do you mean?!" Linkuu shouted angrily. Link merely glowered at his shadow.

Umbra was quick to laugh cynically. «Well certainly the hero of the goddesses himself would be able to use their blessed magic.» At their sour looks he only laughed even more. «Those binds were cursed by Xeilia and myself. The only magic that should be used in them is cursed magic, not the blessed magic of the goddesses. But simple creatures of the light like you cannot hope to be able to use cursed magic. Of course their hero is the exception.»

«What are you then, that can use it?» Link asked in a tone saturated with anger and suspicion.

«A Caliginai. A being of shadows. The Sheikah claimed to be shadows, but they paled when compared to us.» He paused for effect and sneered down at the two before continuing, «We are creatures made from the darkness within the creatures of light. The more virtuous a person, the stronger we become. Their tiny faults become exaggerated and birth us. Of course,» Umbra said as he leaned forwards, as though telling them a secret, «For those chosen by the goddesses to bear their Triforce, there are always three of us. So long as the goddesses continue to choose Bearers, three Caliginai will be stronger then the rest, will be more powerful, and will be immortal.» He said the last word with a flourish and sat back in his chair, watching the effect his words had on them.

«Immortal?» Linkuu questioned.

Umbra grinned. «Of course. Caliginai can only be killed if the one they stem from die. However, the goddesses choose their bearers to have the same traits, to be similar, they use the souls of their first bearers as a guideline to choose new ones. So instead of three Caliginai constantly being reborn, when the bearer dies, they are unaffected. It's smarter.»

Link's fortitude quavered for a moment. Before him was a creature born of his darkness, something he could not slay, a being stronger then him. Umbra hadn't needed to say he was one of those three Caliginai to get his point across to him. Then he wondered if Umbra was lying. He decided to test his thought. «But I killed you.» He said simply.

«Oh, your Light Blade left me with quite a wound. It was so grievous that I was sent back to the Nebulous. The realm my ilk were banished to centuries before your birth. But since I had already used your Princess to summon Xeilia out of there, she was quick to bring me back to this realm. The two of us have been having a lot of fun here, it's a shame that you've missed out on it, Link.» Umbra smiled, his expression near a leer. The meaning of his words sunk into Link and then Umbra spoke again, «Also,» his tone was frustrated, as though he were speaking with an idiot child. «Until you were dead, I could not be killed. And as I said before, I'm immortal because there will always be a Bearer of the Triforce of Courage in the future. Of course if you had died, I would have been stuck in the Nebulous until there was another Bearer of the Triforce of Courage. But you did not die then. You lived on, and so Xeilia was able to bring me back.»

A thought occurred to Linkuu and he asked, «Ganon bore the Triforce of Power, doesn't he have an immortal Caliginai?»

«Of course. But he's rather weak, has been ever since the original bearer died and the new bearer has always been sinister. Otherwise I would have brought Keir here as well.»

At that moment the shadows by Umbra's feet condensed and Invei lay on the floor, panting. Link looked at her, she was poised right above Umbra's sword, which was on the ground.

«I presume you failed, Xeilia?» Umbra inquired of her. She got to her feet and shifted back into the form Link was familiar with.

«Yes,» she spat out. «Even though I knew what was to happen, I could not stop it.»

«That's quite alright. Remember the plan?»

She nodded. «Of course.»

"What doe she mean she knew what was going to happen?" Linkuu spat out. Link didn't understand what he had asked, but figured it out by Umbra's response.

«If you can't figure it out, boy, then why should I tell you?»


	6. Gale

I'm sorry for the delay. I'm in college most days or busy with something, so I'm barely able to keep up with the updates usually.

* * *

Sheik groaned and sat up from what she was lying on. It was soft, so she presumed it to be a bed. She was surprised by how light her limbs felt, as though they were made from clouds. She looked around, everything in the room coming under close inspection. She was in a room that was carved into something stone, it had tribal art, but elegant decorations. The contradiction in ornamentation confused her, but she pressed on in her examination. There was no living thing in the room aside from her. The bed she had been lying in was elegantly carved from wood and had a gossamer veil.

She got out of the bed and was caught off guard by how strongly her legs ached. Her knees buckled and she had to grab onto a small wooden desk by the bed for support. She glanced down at the desk, it had been hidden by the veil. There were papers scattered on the top of the desk, she could not understand the runes written upon them. Placed on top of the papers was the fetish that Xeilia had had. It gleamed angrily in the light. Sheik picked it up in her hand and brought it up to examine it.

At that moment the same force that had attacked her at the end of her fight with Invei struck again. She cried out in livid pain as some invisible force attacked her vengefully. She collapsed to the ground under the sheer weight of the brutality. Her strength left her with speed. When she tried to let go, she found it impossible. Thinking quickly she came to understand two facts: Invei had called this the Stone of Ire, and that this was the physical manifestation of the vice Wrath.

«Pacei!» Sheik cried out. «Pacei! Pacei! Pacei!» She hoped that the word, peace, would be a spell enough to quell the Stone. It worked. With a sore throb of red energy, the feeling left her and the stone rested resentfully in her grasp. Her own body had begun to glow blue as she had spoke, a gold mark glowing through the blue cloth on the back of her right hand. The glow and the mark faded and she fell forwards, barely catching herself with her hands. She panted heavily, head swimming.

The door was thrown open as three people burst into the room. One of them was Tetra, the other two were Rito. Tetra knelt next to Sheik and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Ey? You okay?"

Sheik slowly nodded and began to gradually stand.

«Zelda! You're alive!» Navi exclaimed as she flew down in front of her. Sheik looked at her and quirked an eyebrow.

"Was there ever any doubt, Navi?" She said slowly through ragged breaths.

"Well," the fairy switched to modern Hylian. "When you went under I thought you were a goner, but Tetra dove in and with Farore's Robe she was able to get you out, but she was under for a long time. And when we got you up, you were barely breathing. The Rito that tried to carry you here, he could barely get above the water's surface. And it took forever to get that stone out of your hands."

The stone began to attack her as her thoughts left it and focused on what Navi was saying. Quickly focusing back on the stone, the pain began to recede. Her body trembled.

"Who managed to get it out?"

"Me," Tetra said coolly. "When I removed it from your hold, the blasted thing hurt. Everyone else just got mad when they touched it. What in Din's name is that thing?"

Several facts began to fall into place in her mind. She frowned as they did so. From what Invei had said this stone was the opposite of the Zora's Sapphire. To her knowledge, the stone had no strange effect on the person carrying it, but that was probably why this one did. The symbol Wrytaia was very similar in the ancient language to the symbol for Wisdom. The stone might afflict anyone else by making them feel wrathful, but for the Bearers of Wisdom, it seemed to have a different effect. Which meant that the vice Wrath was the aspect of the Dark Powers which was meant to contend with the virtue Wisdom of the Light Powers. If Impa's stories were to be believed, that was. She corrected herself. But with this Stone of Ire, she found herself believing what Impa had told her to be more and more true.

"The Stone of Ire. Its one of the things we need to break the seal." She replied after a long moment considering that.

"Ah, good." Tetra said. "Do you need to eat anything?"

She shook her head. "In this form, I can sustain myself with magic."

"Tetra," one of the Rito called out. Tetra looked over at him, as did Sheik. He had white hair tied back with a few silver wisps in his face. His clothes were light, but bespoke nobility with their rich red and green colors. He wore a heavy necklace. "Are you going to introduce your friend to us?"

"Oh," the pirate said, as though reminded of something that she had forgotten, "this here is," she said quickly tipping her head in Sheik's direction and then paused.

"Zelda. I am Princess Zelda." The disguise had been born of a need to hide her identity, but she felt no need this time. It would not help her with Umbra, he could find her even in this disguise.

"Princess?" He asked, as though amused.

"Yes, this is a disguise that imbues me with a wider, although weaker, variety of magical spells and greater strength and speed. Its original intent was to keep my true identity a secret, but that is no longer needed."

"And Zelda, this is Prince Komali and his attendant, girlfriend, future wife, and the like Medli."

The other Rito seemed to blush at the titles Tetra bestowed upon her. She had lengthy terra-cotta hair and wore a dress of gray and red. There was a lute on her back. There was a symbol on her dress similar to the Zora's symbol of long ago.

"Tetra, it isn't proper to talk about such things so openly," Komali chided.

"But its true." Tetra replied, crossing her arms.

Sheik smiled and raised her hand when Komali opened his mouth for a rebuttal. "Medli, that symbol you bear, where does it come from? And the harp as well, if you don't mind?"

The Rito looked down at her dress and then back at her. "The symbol is that of the Rito people. It's been the same since the Great Sea. The harp was given to me by Komali's grandmother. It too has been passed through Rito history to the attendants of the great Valoo."

"May I see it?" Sheik extended her hand. Medli looked at her for a moment before she reluctantly offered the instrument. She examined it carefully, played a note, and then handed it back. "A good instrument. As I thought, it was an ancient treasure of the Zora people. I assume that you are the Earth sage Linkuu mentioned to me when he was explaining this Great Sea to me?"

"Yes," she said softly, "Where is Linkuu?"

Sheik waved her hand dismissively, "He is elsewhere, and we're trying to find a way to get to him."

"I see. Perhaps you might see Valoo? He is the sky spirit and perhaps he could help you. However he only speaks the ancient language."

«That is not a problem,» Sheik replied calmly. «Where is he?»

"At the top of the mountain." Medli said, astounded at the ease with which she spoke the language.

Sheik nodded and prepared a transportation spell. "Tetra, I'll be back shortly."

"Whatever," the pirate replied indifferently, putting her arms behind her head and leaning against the wall.

Sheik bowed to them and cast her spell, due to the nature, she was placed gently on the ground on a balcony on the outside of the island. She looked up the mountainside before her. The was a doorway leading to a room inside. There were several startled Rito inside that began to shout at her. She looked at them and then back at the mountain. Without a word she jumped up, landing on the sheer rock wall and began to run upwards. In a minute she was at the top, jumping over it and landing inside a small pit at the top of the mountain. Seated above her was a large red dragon with undersized angelic wings.

It started down at her, using an elongated neck to bring its head closer to her. She bent down on a knee and placed her right hand diagonally across her chest.

«Who are you?» The dragon asked in a voice as old as time.

«My name is Zelda. I came to ask you if you knew anything about the dark creatures that have come to bear on the Great Sea.»

«Zelda?» He asked, «That is a name I have not heard used in a long time. And I don't not believe that you are the current incarnation.»

«It is true that I am not. Due to circumstances, I was transported through time with the Hero of Time to the Great Sea.»

«The Hero of Time? That is a strange tale, indeed.»

«The Great Deku Tree would verify my tale if you so desire to.»

«The fact that you are so confident makes me believe you. Stand and let me look at your eyes.»

Sheik stood, her red eyes burned into the dragon's black orbs. He examined first her garb and then her eyes. They stared at each other for a long time before he spoke again.

«The clothing, too I have not seen in a long time. The Sheikah are a race that has long since disappeared. But you wear the outfit befitting one of their minstrels. Their symbol was forgotten hundreds of years ago. You truly are from a lost time. What was your question?»

«There are creatures, dark beings of shadow, I was wondering if you knew about them, Lord Valoo.»

The dragon growled and smoke flared from his nostrils. «Yes, I know these creatures well. They have plagued the lands of the goddesses since the land was turned to sea! They have visited me and told me horrific things!»

«Do you know from where they originate, Lord Valoo?»

«A place of darkness sealed by the goddesses. How they came into being, I do not know, nor how they escaped that place.»

Sheik bent her head, exhaled a short, frustrated clipped breath. «I see. Can you tell me more about this place? Perhaps you have heard of the goddess's fragments?»

«Stones fractured into pieces. Yes I have heard of them. For each stone there are three fragments, making for nine in total.» He stared at her for a minute and huffed, «You have six of those fragments. You seek the other three to make the stones whole.»

«These creatures…they're powerful and more then a match for me. I need a way to defeat them. So, yes, I do.»

«Ha! You do understand that these stones will grant you the powers of the goddesses?»

Sheik lifted her right hand in front of her, so the back was facing Valoo. She pressed the back of her left hand against her wrist, behind her right arm. A golden light shone through the back, it took the form of the Triforce, the lower right triangle shone brightest. The dragon seemed to be taken aback. She lowered her arms to her sides.

«I know this well, but I already have a fraction of their greatest treasure,» she said slowly.

«Wisdom. I see. Very well, you must know what you are doing. Three of the Great Fairies have them. Southern Fairy Island, Eastern Fairy Island, and the one that wanders the seas. I believe that right now she in the space between the Tower and the Ice Ring Island. When you find them, show them the pieces you have and your Triforce. They shall give you what you seek.»

Sheik bowed low, placing a hand over her chest again. «I thank you for your kindness and your information, Lord Valoo.»

The dragon roared, as though laughing, the mountain shook. «For one chosen by the goddesses, it is the least I could offer. But you say that the Hero of Time is here, why does he not defeat them?»

«They have captured Link, shortly after he met with the Great Deku Tree. Linkuu too, is in the hands of these dark creatures.»

The dragon roared, flames erupted in the sky. Sheik shook before his might, but remained bowed low. «Very well! Go now, Bearer of Wisdom! If you need aid, use the blue stone to contact me, I will come at a moment's notice.»

«I will do so without hesitation.» Sheik jumped up, landed on the edge of the mountain and lightly dropped over the side. She landed on the balcony and looked in; Tetra was standing there, talking with the Rito.

"So, you see, that's what's going on, as far as I can figure."

"I find it hard to believe that Linkuu was taken hostage," a male Rito replied. He had a noble bearing as well, but he looked older then Komali, who was in the room, standing near Medli.

"You must believe it," Sheik said as she walked inside. "For it is the truth."

"And you are-?" He asked.

"I am Zelda," she made a quick bow to him. "'Tis an honor to meet with you."

"You certainly did not act so earlier."

"I had a pressing need to talk with the guardian Valoo. I apologize if my actions slighted you."

"Your voice is honest and true, even though you mask your face. I shall put my trust in what Tetra and you say. What did you talk to Valoo about?"

"The creatures responsible and a potential method to destroy them." She turned to Tetra, "Tetra, would it be possible to leave soon?"

The pirate sighed. "Yeah. I need to find out where my crew is too. Though, you're going to explain to me what's going on as we travel."

Sheik nodded, "It is only fair." She looked at the older Rito, "Would you let us leave now?"

"Of course, please, continue with what you were doing."

They left the room and Tetra led Sheik to the outside. There was a walk along a wooden bridge and down a slope before they got to the shore where the boat was. Sheik looked back, her eyes widened as she gazed upon it. This was Death Mountain, or what had become of it. She got onto the boat and pulled out the sea chart.

"We need to go to Eastern Fairy Island, Southern Fairy Island, and the space between Ice Ring Isle and the Tower of the Gods," She explained, looking for the key.

"Okay," tetra said and pointed out three squares. "That's where those places are. You already pointed out Ice Ring isle as a place that we must go, and where else?"

Sheik looked over the chart, "Here." She pointed out an island four squares east of the place where they had fought Invei.

"We're here," Tetra pointed to a square just east of it, there was a large island in the center, "This is Dragon Roost Island. So. I think," She quickly checked the wind, "that while the winds are good, we should go to Eastern Fairy Island, pray that they keep up, and head to Spectacle Island," he finger traced the route on the parchment. "Sound good?"

Sheik nodded. Tetra quickly worked the sail, it flared open and after a little work, the wind caught them and propelled the boat through the water.

Navi rested on the head of the boat and looked at the two.

"So, what's going on?" Tetra asked after a minute, "Why the three new places?"

Sheik reached back and pulled out the partially formed stones, "These. Valoo said that those places would have the remaining fragment for each. With the complete stones, it might be easier to battle them, Invei and Umbra."

Tetra nodded. "So that's their names. What do you know about them?"

Sheik shuddered a moment as the memories came back to her. Telling Linkuu hadn't been as horrible, she had been under the belief that he was dead. But he was still alive, and could do the same thing, or worse, to her again.

She took a deep breath and then began to speak. For the next several hours she explained as succinctly as she could what had occurred to her. She explained how she had been captured. How, with Navi to fill in the time gap, she had been in Umbra's hold for ten days. What Umbra had done to her. What she had known about Lei's Crystal and how Umbra had convinced her to use it, and for what purpose. She explained his tactics, how they involved fear as the primary factor, and sadism as the secondary. How his words could be sweet lies designed to twist minds to his choosing. His dramatic revelation. She then explained what he had said about what he was. Then she explained to Tetra what Valoo had said. Then she explained her own guesses about Invei. How Invei might be a disguise of her own shadow.

"That's right," Navi said, "The woman, Umbra had called her Xeilia."

"Xeilia. That's our foe, huh?" Tetra said as she leaned back on the head of the ship.

"Umbra too. I very much doubt that we're doing this without his wanting us to."

"You fear him that much?"

"No, but it's just a guess. He never wanted Link to die until he was fighting him directly after his master's defeat. I might attribute him with too much strength, but its better then underestimating him."

"Okay. And if Umbra is Link's shadow, then what about Invei. What can we expect from her?"

Sheik took a deep breath and looked into herself. "I'm not sure. I'm not that familiar with Link's inner mind. He never spoke much before, so it will hard to base an accurate guess on the relationship between his and Umbra's behaviors. But I will wager that she will mostly base her decisions off of rage and not logic. How strong she is, I think that she is around my strength, if only a little more powerful. But Umbra is much stronger then Link."

Tetra frowned and then looked at the horizon. "Hey, Eastern Fairy Island, dead ahead."

Sheik looked over the side of the boat and saw the island. It was small, a little above the ocean, and had one building and a tree. She jumped over the boat, the wind had changed direction and their travel had slowed considerably. "Very well. I'll meet you there, Tetra."

She ran ahead of them, skipping over the small undulations in the surface of the water. She jumped up, and landed on the grass in the center of the island. Sheik walked forward and came to an opening in the house. She jumped down a hole in the center of the large pineapple like building. She was face to face with a fairy fountain. The small creatures floated around aimlessly, waiting for a wounded traveler to wander in. She walked forwards, the fountain was covered in a thin layer of clear water, and mist covered the surface and seemed to fall down as a veil from the framework of marble around the fountain. On the step between the cobblestone walkway to the fountain and the bottom of it, she knelt down.

«Oh, Great Fairy. Are you there? Can you hear me?» She called out in the ancient tongue, a feeling told her that all fairies could understand that forgotten language.

There was a laugh, and she braced herself for the Great Fairy's appearance. She looked up and was surprised at the being in front of her. Instead of being immodest in outfit, a light green dress covered her and faded from reality around her ankles. None of her body went past that. She had dark green skin and lime shaded hair pulled into twin pigtails. Most startling was her four arms.

«Child who speaks the ancient tongue, who are you?»

Sheik stood and unveiled her Triforce mark to the fairy in the same way that she had done with Valoo. «A Bearer of the Goddesses. I come to ask you if you have a goddess's fragment.»

The fairy bowed to her and straightened her body. She placed her upper two arms with the palms flat against each other. Her lower arms were held to the side, making a circle between her index and thumb with the other three fingers extended. She opened the other two hands, bending them at the wrist, and a floating green gem appeared in her grasp. It floated from her to Sheik.

When she grasped the stone the fairy spoke.

«I am honored that Nayru's Bearer would visit me. Is there else I can do for you?»

Sheik shook her head. «No, you have done more then enough. But if you would answer a question,» she reached back and pulled out the partially formed stone. The two pieces glowed and in a flash were joined. The shape had changed again, this time it appeared as a swirl of wind would in a child's painting. «What powers does the stone have?»

«The stone is able to move winds, in any way you desire. You can move anything, or anyone, through the wind as well.»

Sheik bowed. «I thank you for your kindness and your information.» She could feel the raw strength of the stone she held, it flooded into her and through her. She felt as light as a leaf. The Great Fairy disappeared in a flash of light and then Sheik left. She went to the hole and was pulled up by a beam of light. She then walked out and found the boat with Tetra in it, just arriving.

She jumped in the boat. "Good news, I can keep the boat going as fast as it can go now." She showed Tetra the stone.

"Great." She stretched her limbs as she stood to fetch the map and compass. After a minute she pointed through the island, "We need to go that way."

After a few minutes of deliberation, and Sheik moving the boat, they were pas the island. Uttering a small chant, wind filled the sail, and they shot through the water in the direction Tetra said. Experimenting a little, Sheik managed to get the wind to push them faster then they had gone before through the stone and this cut down their travel time drastically, although she found that too fast was dangerous as it caused the boat to skip yards above the surface of the ocean, using the smallest of waves as a ramp.

Despite the dangers of their high speed, they reached the next island, Spectacle Island near sundown. It was two circles joined together like a warped Venn diagram with one section smaller then the other. Tetra and Sheik got out of the boat and made their way up the island to the high point. Standing there with his back to them was Umbra.

"Umbra!" Sheik spat out.

There was a sinister laugh and he turned to them. He bowed, "Ah, the two Princesses. I'm glad that you made it, right on schedule."

"What do you mean, 'schedule'?" Tetra shot.

"Well," He grinned at her. Tetra took a step backwards. "It's quite simple. I predicted that when you got the package Link sent you, you would get the third piece to Faeore's Stone, which was in Eastern Fairy Island. And then you would get to this place around this time. I see you're using your head this time, Zelda."

Sheik bowed her head, making a guttural noise, "I always do."

"Oh? It didn't seem that way when you were in my hold. Perhaps you need a reminder?"

"No." She said firmly, again letting her rage overflow her ability to feel fear. "How are Link and Linkuu?"

Umbra shrugged, "I'm not sure. They were alive when I left them with Xeilia. To make sure of it yourself, you'll have to take this Stone of Terror," he reached into his black tunic and reached out, showing her a black stone intricately carved into an ambiguous shape, as though it were partially cloaked in shadows, although it glittered fiercely in the light of the dying sun. He smiled menacingly as he spoke, "from me. But do you think you really can? Can you really save them? Do you want to?"

"SHUT UP!" Tetra yelled as she lunged at him, sword out. He jumped backwards, ducking away from her strike. "Just shut up!" She was breathing hard, despite how little energy she had needed to move like that. "If you're going to fight, just fight already."

He sneered at her and bowed, the chain the stone was attached to fell down around his right arm as he pulled out his sword. "As you wish, Princess."

Sheik exhaled sharply and shook her right hand, letting the needles fall into her hand, in between her fingers. She stopped when she had twenty, and gripped them in her hand, holding them tightly. She ran forwards.

Umbra waited for Tetra to lunge at him again. He gently parried her strike, and stood as though he were bored. This only enraged the pirate even more and she jumped backwards. She leapt at him again, this time trying to strike at his knees. He jumped over the strike and over her. He brought his sword down to strike her spine, but it was grabbed by the chain whip Sheik had let out. She jerked her left arm backwards as he fell down over Tetra, the sword barely missed her back and he landed prone on the ground. She then threw all the needles at him. There was a small buzz in the air. He moved his sword, for she had forgotten to keep the chain taught, and blocked the needles. He rolled forwards, curling and then standing as Tetra brought her sword down to hit his neck.

Because the chain was still wrapped around his sword, and caught amongst the thousands of needles on its edges, Sheik was dragged forwards. He swung his right arm, whipping her into the ground. Sheik began to get up, but she was yanked forwards by his whipping his arm back. As she came near him, he reached out his left arm and pulled her close to him by her shoulders.

"Most people might mistake you for a man, but I can tell," he whispered into her ear. She shuddered and struck her right arm forward after flicking it downwards. A needle had slipped between her index and middle fingers. He barely skirted her reach, without the needle. The metal dug into his chest, a little black smoke flew up from the wound.

He laughed and grabbed her right arm, pulling her into him. She tried to free herself, but his grasp was far stronger then hers. He looked up at Tetra, who was standing still, trying to find a way to fight without endangering Sheik.

"What's wrong. Loose your will to fight me? To save Linkuu?"

"Shut up!" She said.

He laughed at her and looked down at Sheik. He lifted up right arm, carefully avoiding grazing her with the spines and using his index and middle fingers, loosening his hold on the metallic hilt to pull down her scarf.

She glanced down nervously at his hand and then noticed his sword. The entire thing shone like metal, there was no insulation on it at all. When he pulled down the scarf, he was surprised by the smile on her face.

At that moment electricity flew through the tip of her chain, which was still wound around his sword and it shocked him through his exposed fingertips that held onto the sword. The leather gauntlet protected his palm, but the attack was enough to paralyze him long enough for her to throw her left arm down. There was an explosion as her magic transported her away from him. The magic forced the chain from his sword and she reappeared in an explosion several yards from him.

The dust settled from her motion and Umbra stood several yards away from where he had been. He used his left hand to wipe the dust from his eyes and shook his head. His red eyes flew menacingly at Sheik and then Tetra.

Sheik stepped backwards from Umbra. Her mind raced. The light created by the explosion should have blinded him for several more seconds. She had expected longer because he was a creature of shadow, not for the effect to leave so quickly.

He chuckled. "Nice one, Princess, but your blinding magic doesn't work so well on me. A lesser Caliginai, maybe, but not me."

Tetra lunged at him again as he spoke, angered by his voice. He parried the strike and sent her backwards. Before she could get a good footing, her had raced in front of her. He loomed above her for a moment before bringing his sword down upon her. He was kicked in the side by Sheik. He was barely moved, but his strike was knocked away from Tetra and he hit nothing. Sheik jumped off of him and somersaulted backwards in the air, and landed so that she was facing him. He laughed at her and attacked her.

She quickly ducked down. She landed on her hands and spun around on the ground, trying to kick his feet out from under him. He jumped over her legs as she spun. Realizing the futility of her attack, she jumped backwards. He brought his sword down to hit her, but Tetra blocked it with her own. The needles scraped against the metal of her weapon, but they did not hit Sheik. She rolled backwards and jumped into a landing position.

She looked up and saw that Umbra and Tetra were engaged in battle. She stood back, flicking needles into her hand as swiftly as she could and waited for an opportunity to strike him.

As she watched, Umbra and Tetra locked swords. Using the twisted piece of metal to his advantage, he twisted his wrist and wrenched the hilt of her sword from her hand. She gasped as her wrist was twisted unnaturally.

He put his sword onto his back and grabbed her shoulders. She struggled to get him to let her go as he pulled her closer. She turned her head from him as he brought his face close to hers. He used his right arm and the needles that Sheik sent at him buried into his gauntlet. He used his fingers to gently, but forcibly, tilt her head so that her closed eyes could be seen directly. He laughed as she tried to move, but he quickly wound his left arm around her back.

He gasped suddenly and Tetra could smell something like foul blood. She held down bile and opened her eyes. His pale face was growing darker, as though overcome by shadows.

"Tetra, grab the stone. It's around his elbow." Sheik commanded. Lodged into his back was a short dagger. It was made of several pastel colors and had a patter of black roses painted onto it. It emanated a white glow, which seemed to cause him pain.

Tetra reached behind her with her left hand and grabbed the stone from around his right elbow. She whipped it over his hand as he tried to grasp the chain, but failed. She jumped backwards as he tensed to prevent her from moving. Tetra landed on the ground a few feet from him.

Sheik withdrew her weapon and forced her knee into his side. He bent with the blow and with another strike from her left hand, the one not holding the dagger; she struck his chest over his heart. He was sent into the ocean. He disappeared into a puff of black smoke.

There was a sound as Tetra collapsed to the ground, covered in sweat and screaming unintelligibly. She began to roll on the ground, tears flowing down her face. Sheik ran over and grabbed her sword from the grass, making sure that she didn't move into it and tried to understand what was happening to her.

* * *

Link glowered at Xeilia. She stood where she had been ever since Umbra had left. The chains around him and Linkuu had tightened to the point where they could not move a half of an inch.

«Oh, what's wrong, Hero?» She questioned mockingly. She walked over and knelt next to him. «Angry?» She flashed him a menacing grin. He was shaken a little, but nothing that would make him speak to her.

«That's quite alright. I like it better if you're mad.» She stood up.

The sides of her dress were open from the waist. They flared upwards as she turned to walk back to where she had been. His mouth twitched as he averted his eyes. She wore sheer black hose underneath, but it was still immodest, both for her to dress that way and for him to look at her. It was bad enough that the collar of the dress was low and in the middle of the dress it was cut several inches, and to look at her face, he needed to look up at her. But the fact that she moved in ways to make him notice the womanly figure she barely hid was irritating, not only just the fact that she did so, but the feelings it rose in the back of his mind. He closed his eyes and turned his head.

There was a brief noise and suddenly there was breath against his ear. «What's the matter? Embarrassed?» He refused to rise to her, even though he could feel her lips moving. He was not going to open his eyes, nor would he even so much as turn to face her. He tensed and kept his body perfectly still, even as she traced his spine with her fingers.

Linkuu stood, openly staring at Link and Xeilia. He was surprised at how still Link was. He would have moved his head to face her if she had gotten so close to him like that. A tinge of red crossed his face as he realized what could happen in that position. He suddenly shook his head, trying to free himself of the thought.

There was a whisper of movement by the throne. Linkuu turned his head, wagering that was safe while Link kept perfectly still. She was directly between him and the throne. Moving there would probably only play into her hand.

«Xeilia,» Umbra called out. His voice sounded weakened. Link was tempted to move to see what state Umbra was in, but he refused to move until she left him. «Xeilia.» His voice sounded more authoritative. She clicked her tongue in disappointment and moved over to the throne. She placed a hand over where Sheik had stabbed him. Link instantly moved and had to grin at Umbra's injury.

When his wound was healed, Xeilia turned to face him. He grimaced and looked at the floor in front of him, working on dislodging the thoughts that her motions had called up. Linkuu tried doing the same thing, groaning a little as he failed.

At this Umbra began to laugh. He doubled over laughing in pure mirth to see Link and Linkuu so utterly distressed by Xeilia's motions.

«What's the matter?» He asked them as he moved up in his seat. «Xeilia?»

Both heroes glowered at Umbra. He only smiled and moved, kicking his legs over one arm and sitting sideways. Xeilia sat in his lap. He moved his right arm around her back and placed his left on her shoulder.

«You do understand that her body is exactly like Zelda's?» He moved his hand down her arm. «Like my body is much like yours, Link, with a few differences,» He bared his pointed teeth and continued, «hers is a mirror of the princesses. Of course, that's what's causing the problem.»

"What do you mean?" Linkuu snapped at him.

«You're ashamed. Of your feelings for the princess, which rise up because of Xeilia's similarity with her. You two would call your primal lust, love, in an attempt to make it more acceptable, but,» his hand was now at her knee, «with the way she dresses, you can't deny the darkness of your own emotions. Zelda had a similar reaction to me.»

Link's eyes narrowed at Umbra's statement. «What?» He asked coldly.

Umbra's smile widened. «Every time I got closer to her, I could feel how much she didn't want me to move away, how much she wanted me to continue, and how disappointed she was when I didn't. All because I'm so much like you.»

Link's heart pounded in anger as Umbra spoke. Suddenly a realization broke upon him as a wave would a rock. If Umbra was his shadow, he had to have all of his own imperfections. He had none of his virtues, but all of his vices. He grinned to himself; he might have a weapon to use against Umbra now.

* * *

Any guesses as to what Link's new weapon is?


	7. Mistral

"Tetra," Sheik called out. "Tetra!" she said severely and loudly, trying to be heard over her screams.

"What's wrong?" Navi asked as she feverishly flew over the pirate.

Sheik bent down and roughly grabbed Tetra's shoulder, holding her still. Tetra thrashed on the ground violently. Sheik reached out her right hand and snatched the black stone from the pirate's grasp. The effect was immediate. Tetra stilled and her breathing began to calm as she stopped screaming.

It also immediately affected Sheik as well. She felt as though her blood had been turned into ice. Unintelligible fears rolled into her mind and seized her. Panic flooded through her. Visions flashed before her, not only of her captivity under Umbra, but of the taunts he had used at first and the images he had showed her through his shadow orb. Violent deaths of the people she cared for, and Link being tortured gruesomely. She fell to her knees, eyes wide and breathing deep. She had been expecting something like this, having dealt with the Stone of Ire on Dragon Roost.

"Quinten," she said, trying to stop the stones effects on her. Her voice was a mere whisper. "Quinten!" Her voice came out stronger with the command. "Quinten!" She shouted almost desperately. Ordering the stone to quiet.

A blue light broke through the visions she saw and enveloped them. Like a cleansing shower, the blue light forced the fear and panic from her. The stone fought back, trying to instill nameless dread within her, but whatever caused the blue light forced it to stop.

She fell forwards, catching herself with her left hand. Her entire body trembled in the aftermath of the stone's effects. She took the chain she had fastened the Stone of Ire to and looped the Stone of Terror's chain around it. Both of the stones that housed dark powers dangled about her waist.

Sheik stood after a moment, grabbing the dagger from the grass it had dropped to. She reached out a hand to Tetra, who helped herself up without Sheik's aid. Tetra went over to her sword and sheathed it.

"Someday," Tetra said in voice that vainly tried to veil the terror she had just felt, "You're going to have to teach me how to do stuff like that."

Sheik gave the pirate a thin smile and pulled her scarf back over her face. She held the dagger behind the small of her back and let go of the handle, it disappeared in a flash of light. "Like what?"

"That magic that gets stuff to leave you alone, and making weapons magically disappear."

She exhaled a sharp and amused breath. "Magic takes time to learn, but I will try to teach you, it's the best option for while we travel. I've run out of history to tell you. As for the weapon, the Great Fairies, who are blessed by the goddesses, made it. It can be drawn by thought and when unneeded it vanishes. It's a gift from Link."

"And he gave you something like that?"

Sheik shrugged. "He said he didn't need it, and thought I could make use of it."

"A secret weapon? No need for it?" Tetra scoffed.

"That is unusual," Zelda replied. "He had only a few hours earlier just shown how much he could use it."

"Yeah. That's the only weapon he can draw when cursed," Navi chimed in. Under her blue glow she was grinning. "He gave it to you because he can get around without it, but he wanted you to have something to protect yourself with."

"How noble," Tetra said with a smile aimed at Sheik.

Sheik frowned and set her shoulders. She looked at Tetra and then at Navi. Their jesting tone had not gone unnoticed. Her voice was calm when she spoke, "The both of you are a little too open about an issue like that."

Tetra sauntered over to her and placed an arm around her shoulders. "Oh come on. Just a little fun. Besides, I'm talking about him, not you."

"Same here." Navi said with a cackle.

Sheik removed Tetra's hand from around her shoulder, "If he wanted you to speak about his emotions in a jesting manner, he would have said so."

"Defensive," Tetra said with a smile.

Sheik narrowed her eyes and walked back towards the boat. "Enough, let's get moving. If we must, we can continue to talk while we are on the boat."

"What's with the rush? Can't we just walk around for a little? My legs hurt from sitting so much"

Sheik stopped and turned to Tetra. "That battle should have been more then enough to exorcise soreness from you. I don't intend to leave Link in the clutches of my shadow, or his won, any longer then absolutely necessary. Umbra has expressed a desire to watch Link die. The more time we waste, the greater the odds of Link being dead. This might apply to Linkuu as well."

Tetra immediately sobered. She straightened and followed Sheik silently. They got onto the boat and Tetra brought out the map and the compass. She tapped a few squares and frowned in thought.

"The best and fastest option would be to go to Southern Fairy Island, Ice Ring Isle, and find the third Great Fairy on the way to the Tower of the Gods."

"Which direction do we need to go to get to Southern Fairy Island?" Sheik asked as she brought out the green stone.

Tetra paused as she looked at the chart and angled the rudder, "This way seems best."

Sheik nodded and muttered an ancient chant, the wind's direction changed. A strong breeze filled the sail and the boat took off.

For the next several hours Sheik tried to teach Tetra the basic principles of magic. How it worked, what needed to be said or thought, this also delved into a lesson on the most ancient of languages. Tetra picked up very quickly on the lessons, she had trouble pronouncing the words, but she eventually learned it. She didn't teach her the runes of the ancient language, it was unneeded. After five hours of teaching, Sheik tried to teach Tetra a few spells. The results would have, in another time and place, been amusing. When trying a fire spell, it had exploded in her face several times.

"No, Tetra! You need to concentrate," Sheik chastised her after cutting out Tetra's fire spell a second time. The flame had been wavering and pulsating, instead of a perfect sphere; its colors were various reds and oranges instead of the precise yellow-orange that it should have been. "If you don't you could have unwanted effects. You need to think about what you want the spell to do and not deviate from it. Try again."

Tetra coughed and raised up her hand and said in as clear a voice as she could, "_Figra sphonten._" A few inches above her palm an orb of fire began to appear. It grew until it was several inches in diameter. The sphere was a titian shade, just a few lighter then the one Sheik had shown her. It remained perfectly still, hovering just above her hand. Tetra stared at it, immersed in how strangely beautiful it was.

"Good." Sheik muttered. "Now try to move it, hit the crest of a wave."

Tetra nodded. She spied a wave and then came up with the phrase she might possibly need, "_Motena figra._" Move, fire. The sphere jumped out of her palm. It zipped forward and nearly crashed into the head of the boat.

Sheik reached a hand towards the fire orb, the sphere stopped and gently dropped into the water. She drew a breath and let her hand down, "It moves as fast and as far as you think about it. Be more careful."

Tetra nodded her head. She summoned another orb of fire and muttered the spell to move it. The flame sphere crashed into the peak of a wave.

Sheik nodded in approval as Tetra turned to her. "Okay, now let's do something else."

For the next several hours Sheik covered more spells with her, based in different elements. She taught Tetra the basics in water, wind, earth, and electricity. Tetra picked up quickly, learning with more ease as time went on and she started to get the hang of it.

By nightfall, Tetra had nearly mastered the basics. They exchanged watch shifts, Tetra for the first half and Sheik for the second. In the morning Sheik recapped her lessons and Tetra showed that it had not been luck, she still remembered the basics and could perform them well. Sheik taught her a few more mediocre spells, Tetra had more difficulty with these but she slowly moved through them.

"I believe we're coming up on the island," Sheik said after Tetra had moved onto the newest water spell. "When we get there, practice that earth spell I taught you the other day."

"What do you want me to do?" Tetra said as she looked at the island they were coming up to.

Sheik sat back and thought about it. The boat bumped against the island. Sheik and Tetra got out. Tetra took a rope and tied it around the head. She then staked it into the ground.

"Make some grass grow on the sand. Just a small patch." Sheik instructed and then left. She walked into the large pineapple like building and jumped down the hole that would lead to the great fairy fountain.

Where everything in Eastern Fairy Island was tinged green, this had a slight tint of blue. Otherwise this was an exact replica.

«Oh, Great Fairy. Are you there? Can you hear me?» Sheik called out as she knelt down on the step.

There was the sound of chimes as the great fairy appeared. Her gown was of ice, her skin the darkest tinge of navy and her hair rippled into twin pigtails. She too had the four arms.

«What do you seek, oh beloved one chosen by Nayru?» The great fairy asked. «Ask and I shall try and grant your desire.»

Sheik moved into a standing position. She stared at the Great Fairy before pulling out the partially formed stone of blue. «I seek the final fragment to this. Would you be able to bestow it upon me?»

The fairy laughed, «I would indeed. Here, you may have it.»

She brought her upper two arms in front of her face and clasped the hands together. Then she lifted the lower limbs up. With those hands she crossed her index and middle fingers while moving her ring and pinky fingers as one, spreading them far from the crossed fingers, and she placed her thumb on her palm. She unclasped the hands of her upper arms and bent them backwards. The last Nayru fragment was floating above the heels of her palms. The gem floated to Sheik.

She grasped the fragment out of the air. She placed the last fragment next to the partially completed stone. There was a flash of blue light and the stones melded into one. The stone was carved to look like a whirlpool, as it might be seen from above.

«This stone will allow me to move water in any way, correct?»

The fairy bowed. «In this way you can move the water in everything, the ocean, the ground, and all living things. Please mind not to abuse it.»

«I would never defile the goddesses' powers so,» Sheik responded firmly.

«Then I am pleased to have been able to help you.» The fairy bowed to Sheik and dissipated into a small fountain. Sheik turned around and left the fairy's sanctuary.

When she got above ground, she saw Tetra crouched near a patch of grass. The pirate raised her hand above an empty patch of sand, muttered a few words, and grass began to grow.

"Good," Sheik said as she walked up to the Pirate.

"So, how did it go?" Navi asked as she fluttered in the air.

"It went well," Sheik displayed the blue stone. It was the size of her hand, as was the green stone. "So did your practice. I'm glad you did not fail." She said and rubbed the grass into the ground with her foot.

"Hey!" Tetra exclaimed.

"Messing around with the elements as though they are playthings is not a wise decision. You have great magical energy, Tetra, but it would be wise not to exhaust yourself with meaningless tasks. I teach you these spells under the assumption that they might serve you one day, if you are stranded on an island you can make a fruit tree grow and bear food in hours, you can purify salt water, or you could save your ship in a storm. But do not eat your strength by making grass grow to amuse yourself, it would only wear you out and could eventually kill you."

"But you make me use so many spells when teaching me," the pirate protested.

"That is because it is better for you to be tired then to use a spell you have not mastered, the effects can be disastrous. I want to make sure you can control the spell and that it does not control you. Now come, we should leave. I'll let you recover as we travel, you'll need your strength if we are to fight another time. I shall teach you more of the language so you can invent your own spells if you feel the need."

With that Sheik got into the boat. Tetra hopped in as well. "Okay," she pulled out the compass and double-checked their bearings. She pointed in a direction. "We need to go east."

Sheik pulled out Farore's stone and changed the direction and force of the winds. They were propelled through the water. She taught the pirate several more words and gave her a brief grammar lesson in the ancient tongue. Hours later, Tetra was able to recall most of them.

Sheik had just finished quizzing Tetra when they arrived at the next island. Sheik frowned decidedly at what she saw. It was a ring of ice comprised of various slippery slopes and a dragonhead on its north end. There was no place to properly moor the boat, so when they got out, Sheik used Naryu's stone to make a rope of water, and had Tetra freeze it, connecting the icy twine to the edge of the ice ring. They proceeded carefully, there was an indelible chill in the air caused by the ice, and their feet were cold seconds after landing on the ring. They did not want to slip, the surface was extremely smooth and getting up would prove extraordinarily difficult.

Despite their caution, Tetra was the first one to fall. Sheik stood carefully, having had experience with ice previously in life. She held out a hand and helped Tetra to stand. Tetra paused after seeing Sheik shiver uncontrollably. Navi fluttered in the air, her wings making a small hum.

"Are you that cold?" the pirate asked.

"Yes. Aren't you?" Sheik replied.

"It's freezing!" Navi offered.

Tetra thought to consider, "No, not really. I mean, it's a little cool, but I'm not freezing."

"Farore's Robe," Sheik responded instantly. "It allows you to pass through all forms of terrain with very little affliction."

"Oh." Tetra said and looked down. She noticed that her clothes were a little darker then they usually were.

"Let us continue," Sheik said. They climbed up what few level surfaces there were and stood on the top of the ring. They saw that there were several ice bergs in the center of the ring along with platforms that moved in a cyclic pattern as the water moved under the ring. They bobbed gently in the water.

Standing in the center of one of the ice-coated platforms was a woman. She had pale skin, dark hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, was garbed in black and white, and had a lengthy black sword.

Sheik glanced down at Tetra, the figure before them was a twisted version of the Pirate. "What name do you go by now, Xeilia?" The warrior called out.

The dark pirate bowed deeply to them, "You are fast. Of course, what else could I expect from you, Zelda? I am Melantha as she is Tetra." The woman pointed at the pirate and drew the sword. It glittered in the sunlight.

"Do you have the third stone?" Sheik called out across the water.

Melantha reached into her black vest and pulled out a sapphire crystal. "Indeed. The Stone of Torture." She wrapped the glittering gold chain the crystal was attached to around the hilt of her weapon. Sheik narrowed her eyes, the third vice: sadism. She could not begin to imagine what would happen when she grabbed the stone.

Tetra and Sheik moved as one. It was several long minutes before they were able to jump along the platforms to even get near Melantha. At that point, the dark pirate jumped far above them and onto the top of the ice ring.

"Din." Tetra muttered. "How are we supposed to hit her if we can't get near her?"

Sheik grinned and answered, "Remember what I taught you."

She used her Sheikah magic to increase the friction under her as she bent down. She jumped up and landed on the side of the ring. She glued her feet to the side of the ring with more magic and ran up towards Melantha. The dark pirate raised her sword. Sheik dropped down the wall and lashed out with her chain whip. As though expecting this, Melantha brought her sword down, tip in the middle of a link.

The end of her sword got stuck in the ice, effectively trapping Sheik. The warrior took this in stride and used the entrapment to her own ends. She swung upwards and around. The sword held in the ice, which was what Sheik had been counting on. As she swung around in a circle around the sword the chain wrapped around Melantha, who had stood by her weapon. It took less then a second for Sheik to have wrapped Melantha against the sword with one revolution. The warrior landed on the top of the ice ring on the opposite side of the sword as the dark pirate. Sheik forced her arm backwards, pulling the sword out of the ice and lifting Melantha off the ground. Sheik then flung her arm towards Tetra, unwrapping her enemy and sent sliding along the surface of the platform.

Tetra brought down her sword and stuck it in into Melantha's path as she slid along the ice. Melantha had grabbed her own weapon and held it out so the edge of Tetra's sword did not dig into her flesh. She used her sword as a lever and rebounded backwards, tripping Tetra in the process. The dark pirate stuck the end of her sword in the ice, came to a grating stop, and pushed herself at Tetra, who was trying to get up.

Melantha knocked into Tetra, sending the pirate off the edge and into the water. She grabbed the edge of the ice platform and scrambled to get up on top.

Sheik was in front of Melantha as she came up. The chain had been retracted into the tubing around her wrist, and she struck out with her right hand, forming it like a weapon. Melantha grabbed Sheik's hand and sent her face first into the ice platform, moving in a circle in the process.

Sheik twisted on the ground, standing on her hands and lashing out with her feet. She kicked Melantha in the chest, sending her opponent sliding backwards. Melantha grabbed her sword's hilt and jumped on the edge of the platform, landing on the edge of a nearby platform.

Melantha brought up her sword, just in time to block a barrage of needles from Sheik's left hand. The force sent her backwards a little.

Tetra swam under the surface of the water, the robe made it so that she didn't even have to hold her breath. She looked up, the water was murky but she was just able to see Melantha flying above a gap above her. Tetra swam to the other side of the platform and breached the surface as carefully as she could. She brought her hands above the surface of the water and great difficulty in staying afloat. She formed in her hands two orbs of fire, just mouthing the spell of the phrase.

The orb in her left hand rose up and flew at the dark pirate.

Melantha ducked and turned to her right, just in time to see the second orb flying at her. She just barely dodged the attack. However, she was unable to move to dodge Sheik's attack. The warrior elbowed the dark pirate in the stomach. Melantha was sent backwards and into the surface of the water with a splash. Her sword twirled in the air as Sheik grabbed it. She unwound the chain around the hilt and dropped the stone on the surface of the platform.

Tetra forced a small wave to submerge Melantha before diving down herself. The dark pirate had no advantage of Farore's Robe, so Tetra's dark copy was unable to see through the water. Tetra grabbed Melantha and kneed her as hard as she could. Then she mouthed a spell, having a jet of water force Melantha into the air.

Sheik had readied herself for whenever Melantha would surface. She had charged Melantha's sword with light energy. The Sheikah threw the weapon at Melantha as the dark pirate flew into the air from the strength of Tetra's attack. The light charged blade buried itself into its wielder. Melantha disappeared with an agonized scream.

Sheik soon joined into that chorus as she picked up the Stone of Torture.

* * *

Link and Linkuu sat where they had been since Umbra and Xeilia had disappeared hours ago. Link silently fumed with anger. When Xeilia had left to do something, Link had tried out his new weapon, jealousy, on Umbra. His shadow had merely cackled at him, commended him on his efforts, and walked away.

«Um, hey?» Linkuu called out to the Hero of Time. Link looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. «That was a really good try. Shame it didn't work.» Link smiled wryly. Linkuu continued, «It makes sense too, what you said. I just wonder what he meant by he knew that she wouldn't do anything too bold.» Link raised an eyebrow. «I mean, I know what he meant, but I don't know why he's so sure.»

At this Link shrugged. He paused for a moment before replying with, «He's an arrogant man, I guess.»

Linkuu smiled. «Hey, I got a word out of you.»

«Navi's not here, and these are too tight for sign language.» He gestured at the chains by raising his right hand.

At that the two fell into silence once again. It was several tens of minutes later when Linkuu spoke again. «Hey, are you, scared at all? Nervous even?»

Link gave Linkuu a bemused look and then nodded.

«What?» Linkuu exclaimed, «Y-You are?»

«I'm slightly anxious about what will happen, and concerned for Zelda.» Link considered Linkuu for a moment. He examined his surprised, wide eyes and slack jaw. He furrowed his eyebrows together at Linkuu's reaction. «Should I not feel that way?»

Linkuu shook his head vehemently. It was a minute before he spoke, «Nothing like that, but I just wasn't expecting you to say yes.» Under Link's curious gaze he explained, «Well, you're the hero of legend, someone who is said to have unfailing courage and faced the beast Ganon without even flinching. I didn't expect you to be anxious.»

Link couldn't help the laughter that escaped from him at that. It was several minutes before he quieted. He looked up at Linkuu and shook his head. «I was ten when I first saw that man. Before then I woke up from nightmare's coated in sweat. Even when I faced Ganon, my hands trembled so hard my sword shook. I was never without fear, I just carried on in spite of it.» After what had been the longest string of words he had ever said, Link retracted into silence.

Linkuu looked at him, head tilted to the side and eyebrows knotted together. After a long time he smiled and said, «That's reassuring.» Link looked at him sharply and quirked an eyebrow. «I had been told my entire life how courageous you were, how you never felt fear. When I found out that I was supposed to be you reincarnated, it was a little daunting. I got scared a lot, but if I was supposed to be the new Hero, I was afraid I'd fall short of everyone's expectations because I wasn't fearless.»

Again Link laughed. «I'm didn't become the Hero of Time to meet the expectations of anyone. I did it because I was compelled to stop Ganondorf and save as many people as I could.»

Linkuu smiled. «Yeah. You're right. I was the same way.»

Link settled into a seated position, his laughter had forced him into sitting in a way that was uncomfortable. «Only a fool says he is never afraid,» he said darkly.

«I guess you're right.»


	8. Prelude

Hey guys, Sorry to keep any of you readers waiting another week. However…I've been writing practically non-stop for the past several months. Aside from college the most I do is write. I'm gonna be taking a break for a week or so, settle back, play some games that I've been neglecting, Metal Gear if you must know, color some art, and try to figure out how to use Flash. Basically, I'm taking a break and will hop right back in when I can.

However, to make up for the loss of a chapter I encourage you to do one of two things, or both. First, I am uploading a one-shot short story, called Frozen Serenade. It's Zelda based, so that should be some good fun. Two, look at my page on dA, there's some fun Zelda art in my gallery, and if I can, I might be able to upload some Zelda pictures that I've been working on. And because I must follow dA guidelines, I shall be entertaining you with:

A preview of something that which is yet to come!

* * *

Zelda leaned against the railing of the gazebo. Her blue eyes searched out over the water, the deep fathomless ocean she had nearly been lost to only a few short hours ago. There was the sound of a chime in the air, the whimsical whiz that was a precursor to Link arriving from Navi's wings beating through the air.

The railing shifted slightly. Zelda cast her gaze to the side and saw that he was leaning on the railing abreast of her. A faint blush rose to her cheeks at his proximity, she looked up and found tat he was staring at her. She turned her face to the side to hide the color in her face.

He chuckled and reached out a hand to her shoulder. She jumped and looked up at him, there was a tender smile on his face, unlike the stern expression he wore so frequently when she was around. Her heart jumped to her throat at the gentleness in his eyes.

As he stood straight, her body reacted reflexively. She turned to face him, placing her hands on his chest. He was several inches taller then her, but they craned their necks, staring deeply into the other's eyes. Zelda felt her heart beat pulsating through every part of her body and count the beats by tens before they moved under a unanimous decision.

He gently brought her body closer to his until she was flush against him. He bent downwards as she moved her body upwards. She could almost feel the connection of their lips when he moved his head down sharply. Infuriated by what seemed a cruel joke she pushed him backwards. The winds whipped around them and her forearms, where they had been against his chest, seemed unnaturally chill. Zelda looked down at them and gasped, her silk gloves were saturated with fresh blood.

Link had fallen to his knees, his left hand holding his stomach. He grunted in pain as Zelda fell next to him, kneeling, and removed his hand so she could examine his injury. Before she could spy more then the bloodstain, which was growing at an alarming rate, on the front of his tunic, she gasped and clutched her breast with her right hand as her heart rang out a shrill and painful beat.


End file.
